Heavy Soul
by BiteMyTongue
Summary: Bella is filled with hate, anger and a feeling of unworthy. She just wished she could be normal, and oblivious to the supernatural world around them. Jeremy is simply escaping the overwhelming need he has to kill his sister because of his membership of the brotherhood of five. It's in Forks Jeremy and Bella meet, and things seem to go so much better for the two of them.
1. Brand New Home

Author's Note

-Page Break-

Bella looked up at the sun, she closed her eyes taking in the warmth it offered her. She wasn't even in the car yet, but she was already missing Phoenix.

"It won't be for long, this is your final year in school." A voice said from behind her. "It's for your own good."

"You say that as if I'm supposed to believe you." Bella responded, holding her hands out in front of her, her palms up to the sun catching the warm rays of the sun in her skin. "You may be the one who spawned me, but you are not my father."

"Get in the car, you need to get to the airport before you miss your flight." He responded moving to get behind the driver's seat.

Bella sighed and opened her eyes. "Of course, _father_." She spat in anger as she walked over to the car and climbed in. She buckled up and placed on her sunglasses, ever since puberty she had been forced to wear them everywhere. An extreme sensitivity to light. She mentally scoffed at the idea, she couldn't believe anyone had bought into the idea.

"Are you going to continue to pout the entire way to the airport?" Her father questioned.

"I don't know, _Luther_ ," She said his name with venom in her voice just to spite him. "Are you going to continue to control my life as if I were some sort of puppet to you?"

"Whether you like it or not, Maeva, you are my daughter and I will do whatever is needed to protect you." Luther responded not removing his eyes from the road. He didn't look at her even if he could feel the heat of her anger swirling around them in the car. She hated her birthname, loathed for him to use it, but that had never stopped him from using it.

"I told you not to call me that." Bella said crossing her arms over her chest. "It is not my real name, and I hate it."

"You were born Isabella Maeva, therefore you will always be Maeva to me. Not that horrible Marie your mother changed it to." Luther responded with a slight smirk on his face, because he knew Bella hated her mother more than she hated him.

"Such a ridiculous name. Marie is one of the most used names in the nation. Of course she had to choose the name everyone else has already chosen." Bella said with disdain. "I don't understand why she always had to fit in with everyone else."

"Your mother had a need to please others, I'm just pleased that it was a trait she didn't pass down to you." He responded looking at her from the corner of his eye and watching as she rolled her eyes.

"The only thing that woman gave me is birth, aside from that she gave me nothing." Bella responded looking out the window to the car.

"Have you called Charlie and made him aware of your flying information?" Luther questioned, needing to make sure that there would be someone at the airport to pick her up.

Bella nodded, "Yes, I gave him the time my plane should be landing. He took off the afternoon to be sure he could pick me up."

"And you've been enrolled in school already?" Luther responded.

"Yes, Charlie handled that. All my records have been sent over and the only thing needed is my presence Monday morning." Bella responded she leaned her head against the cold window. "Have you heard from her?"

Luther sighed, "No, I haven't. You shouldn't worry yourself over her."

"I don't worry over her." Bella responded quietly. "Now that she's gone, I don't want her to come back."

"She won't, that much I can promise you." Luther responded, he looked at Bella as for the rest of the ride to the airport she was in silence. He cursed Renee for doing this to her. Cursed the woman for damaging their daughter, for making it close to impossible for Bella to truly trust someone. It made it hard for Bella to get close to anyone, the girl always believed that everyone around her would at some moment leave her.

When they arrived at the airport, Luther followed Bella as far as he could. "Have a safe flight, Maeva."

Bella turned to him and nodded. "Goodbye, Luther." She responded turning on her heel to leave. She didn't look over her shoulder to see if he was still there. She knew he would be, that was simply just Luther. She wouldn't look over her shoulder, that would just be admittance that she cared whether or not he was still there.

-Page Break-

Bella looked out the window of the plane. Her headphones were on and her seat was reclined fully. Leave it to Luther to buy her a first-class ticket, to her coach would've been just fine. Bella's mind drifted off as she looked out of the window. Her mind losing the color of the sky and the clouds and drifted off to the night that changed everything.

 _Bella entered her home, she walked into the living room, seeing it completely empty. The sofa set that usually sat in the middle of the room along with all the pictures and paintings that hung on the wall were all gone._

 _Bella set her bag down against the wall and gently placed her cello case beside it. She walked into the small kitchen to see that all the appliances were gone as well. She hurriedly walked to the guest bedroom to see that it was empty as well. There was no bed, no paintings, it was as empty as the day they had first moved in._

 _Feeling her heart plummet Bella ran as quickly as she could up the stairs. She went straight to her mother's bedroom to see that it was empty. Bella's heart broke as she knew what this meant, she knew exactly what had occurred today. She slowly walked over to her bedroom and opened the door._

 _She felt her heart break into pieces as her room was close to empty. All that remained were boxes. Her bed, dresser, T.V., all her paintings were gone. She walked to the closest box and ripped it open, her clothes were tucked away. She continued to open all the boxes and noticed that inside was everything that had a trace of her. There were pictures of her from throughout the years, every Mother's Day, Christmas and birthday gift she had ever gotten Renee were tucked away in the boxes._

 _Renee had taken everything from her, and all she left behind was the reminder that her own mother hated her. Bella fell to the floor and felt her eyes begin to spill over with tears. So much for a happy 18_ _th_ _birthday._

 _Bella remembered waking up the next morning curled up in a ball on the floor. She didn't move for the day, she skipped school, her cello practice, meeting with Luther and answering the phone. It wasn't until about 6pm that Luther had broken into the home. He had found her i.n the same spot she had been since the day before._

 _She remembered clearly yelling at him, hitting him to put her down to let her get back to her wallowing. All the things she said to him had been cruel, and unneeded, but she never apologized._

Bella looked at the others on the plane, she would bet that they didn't have anything to worry about. There was no life-threatening situation going on in their life, nothing that would force them to leave their home. She envied them, envied their obliviousness to the world around them, envied their normal lives, their everyday concerns. She would summarize that none of them ever had the life of another weighing down on their shoulders.

Bella took in a deep breath to help her tuck away all the feelings she was feeling in the pit of her stomach. She would land in a few hours, and she didn't want Charlie to think that Renee had any effect on her. She wanted her dad to know that she was okay.

-Page Break-

Bella smiled as she saw Charlie standing awkwardly amongst the other people waiting for those boarding off the plane. She greeted him with a warm embrace. "Hey, dad." She said stepping back from the embrace. "Thanks for coming to pick me up, I know it would've been easier if I had just taken a taxi."

Charlie sighed, "You know I don't trust the taxis in Seattle, they're driven by men and women you just can't trust. Besides, it's been too long since I've seen you, I wanted to see my little girl as soon as possible."

Bella smiled and followed him to the baggage claim. "It's been six months. You remember, it was for my cello performance at the graduation last year."

"You were beautiful in that." Charlie said with a nod of his head. He already knew which bags were Bella's, one was her cello case, and the other was a purple suitcase with her name engraved in white, he had given that to her when she was 12. He picked them up and handed the cello to Bella. "You sure you want to come here, I can afford to send you to some prestigious private school if you want. Forks high doesn't have what you need, not when it comes to developing your musical talent. It's your last year of high school, I just want to make sure you get the best options."

Bella smiled, "It's okay, dad. My music talent is fine, I'm here for you. I would rather spend time with my dad then be all by myself. The last couple months have been a bit lonely up in Phoenix."

Charlie sighed, "I'm sorry about that, Bells. I don't know what has gotten into your mother, who in their right mind would leave their child for some man."

Bella shrugged her shoulders. "She was always a wildcard; I was not surprised that she left. I was surprised that she waited for so long, she had the right sense of mind to wait until I was 18 before she left."

"I'm still so sorry about what she did to you, Isabella. You didn't deserve that from her, I should've fought harder for custody a long time ago. I let you down kiddo." Charlie said turning to Bella just before they reached the cruiser.

Bella smiled warmly at her dad. "You know as well as I do that if you had fought harder for custody she would've played dirty and exposed that you weren't my biological father. She would've run your name through the mud, and I'm happy you didn't give her the opportunity to do so. At the very least, I got to grow up with one normal parent in my life."

Charlie smiled and unlocked the car for Bella. He set her suitcase in the back and watched as she placed her cello in the back seat. "Is this all you brought? Where is the rest of your things?"

Bella sighed, "She didn't leave much, all she left were some clothes of mine that didn't fit her, some pictures and other miscellaneous things. This was all the clothes I really had. The rest I either donated or threw away. No reason to carry around useless memorabilia." Bella climbed into the car and buckled in immediately.

"We can stop by any store and get you some things." Charlie said as he started the car, his heart broke for his daughter, Renee had taken literally everything away from her.

Bella shook her head. "Don't worry about it, dad. I have what I need already, besides, I'm a simple person, all I need are a few t-shirts and a couple pair of pants. I can survive as long as I have my cello and you, I think I'll be okay."

Charlie smiled, Bella was far stronger than he thought her for. "I'll leave you the cruiser one of these days so you can drive up to Seattle or Port Angeles to get some things you need. Just in case."

Bella smiled, "Thanks dad."

-Page Break-

Bella sat on her new bed, it was clear that Charlie had someone help him out with the redecorating of her room. It no longer held the pink walls, and the princess bedspread she had when she was a kid, not to mention there was no longer glow in the dark stars on the ceiling. Instead, the walls were a dark purple, the bedspread a light purple and the walls had a few paintings with inspirational quotes. Clearly, it was a woman that had helped Charlie do the redecorating. Even the desk seemed to be very feminine with it's white metal and sleek outline.

Bella couldn't help but smile at the idea of her dad awkwardly asking someone to help him redecorate. And she was more than grateful that he cared enough about her to do something like this. Cared enough to make her as comfortable as she could be in the small bedroom.

"Like your room, Bells?" Charlie questioned at the doorway. "Had some help picking things out for you, but Sue thought you would like it."

Bella smiled, "She was right, I love it dad." She moved off the bed and embraced him in a hug. "Thank you for doing this for me."

Charlie awkwardly hugged her in return. "I'd do anything for you, Bells."

Bella stepped back and smiled at him. "I'm going to get to unpacking, I should start getting ready to go to school tomorrow."

"You don't have to go. You could start on Tuesday." Charlie responded.

Bella shook her head, "I'd rather start tomorrow, there's no point in postponing it, I expect the whole town knows by now, Ms. Stanely can spread gossip proffesionally."

Charlie laughed, "I'll order us some pizza, mushrooms on yours?"

Bella nodded, "Yeah, thanks for remembering, dad."

Charlie smiled, "How could I forget? I still remember when you were 8 and yelled at me that meat is murder, made me watch that documentary on the discovery channel."

Bella smiled at the memory. "What can I say, once I got something in my head, I stuck with it."

"I'll call you when it arrives." Charlie said with a smile as he turned and headed down the stairs.

Bella picked up her suitcase and placed it on her bed. She opened it up and quickly began to put it all away in her closet. There was so little, that she still had plenty of room in her closet so that she could add more later.

-Page Break-

Bella removed her cello from its case and sat down on the desk chair she had and prepared herself to play. She had taken to playing since she was in preschool, it was at first something she only did because Renee had forced her into it, but as she grew up, it was the only real thing that stayed consistent in her life.

Bella closed her eyes, she didn't think of any specific piece to play, she merely let her hands do as they wished. She let her mind fall into the music, letting her head fill with nothing but the notes of the song.

It was in these moments that she could pretend that everything was normal. That she was just a regular 18-year-old girl, with no worries on her mind. She played for what seemed like minutes, but at the knock on the door she returned to the real world and realized she had been playing for hours.

"Just wanted to let you know I was going to bed, Bells." Charlie said he looked at her cello. "As always, your playing was beautiful."

Bella smiled as she set her cello on its stand. "Thanks dad, I guess I should get some sleep."

Charlie nodded, "I'll drive you to school in the morning. Have a good night, Bells."

"Night dad." Bella said watching him walk off, she got into her pajamas and prepared her bed to go to sleep. Once she was under the covers, her body became restless and her mind began to race with thoughts. She felt like she was going to go crazy with all the thoughts in her mind. She stood up and quietly walked over to her window where she placed on her running shoes and easily climbed down the tree.

She looked around and started running, her feet hitting the pavement causing a thumping sound in her ears. She didn't want to think on this run, she had done enough of that throughout the day. All she wanted to do was run until she was tired enough to fall asleep with ease.

Bella sighed as her phone rang for the third time in the last ten minutes. "You're draining my phone battery. What could you possibly want?"

"To know about your well-being." Luther responded his voice in a monotone as he spoke.

"Well, I'm now in a town where I only really know and care about one person. I can't do anything because you have put me on power arrest and have made me nothing more than a weak human. I would say that my well-being is at a very low status since the only good thing about my life so far is being with my dad." Bella responded leaning against a tree, and looking up at the stars.

"You're making a mountain out of an ant hill." Luther responded with a deep sigh. "This is for your own safety, Maeva. They cannot track you if they cannot sense you, and you need to be somewhere where you are safe and out of their line of sight."

Bella sighed, "Whatever you wish to say, _father_."

"One day you will understand that what I am doing for you is for the best." Luther responded with a heavy sigh. "You will understand in time, all you must do is keep yourself safe. And I did not remove your powers, you have done that yourself with your own anger and frustration."

"Is that supposed to be some sort of life motivation to deal with my emotions? Because if so, I don't need your help I can handle my emotions well enough on my own." Bella responded with anger. "Did you merely call me to lecture me on my life?"

"Of course not, Maeva." Luther responded in exhaustion. "I merely want to make sure that you're in a healthy state of mind and that you're not driving yourself to insanity."

"Rest assured, I'm perfectly sane, or at least I will be until tomorrow when I'm going to be forced to start over in a new high school where I know absolutely no one." Bella said as she stood and took in a deep breath. "If that is all, I have to get some rest."

"Good luck, Maeva. I'll call you tomorrow evening once you're done with school." Luther responded.

Bella sighed, "And I'll debate whether I answer the call or not."


	2. Plus One

Author's Note

-Page Break-

Bella smiled at her dad as he dropped her off at the school. "Thank you, and an extra thank you for not putting on the sirens on the drive over here."

Charlie smiled at her. "Didn't want to embarrass you on your first day. Be safe and call me if there is anything you need. I hope you like it here, Bells."

"Don't worry about it, dad, I'm sure I'll like it just fine." Bella took in a deep breath and ignoring all the stares and the whispers she walked to the front office. She wasn't surprised when the woman at the front desk already knew her name, in the small town of Forks everyone knew everyone's business.

Bella smiled politely as the woman handed her a schedule and a map of the school. The map was obviously outdated as the library was still the cafeteria, a renovation that had been done over 10 years ago. "Thank you."

Bella turned on her heel and exited the office, her eyes glued to the paper in her hands trying to analyze the courses she would be having for the rest of the semester. She didn't notice the person heading towards her, and soon she found herself on the ground. Bella groaned out as this was just her luck, of course she had to publicly embarrass herself on her first day.

"Hey, I'm so sorry. I was just trying to find my way to the front office and I wasn't looking. I'm so sorry." A male voice said extending a hand to Bella. "Again, I didn't mean to knock you down."

Bella sighed, and accepted the extended hand. "Don't worry about it, the office is the door right behind me."

"Thank you, I really am sorry, it's my first day." He said bending down to pick up the papers she had dropped.

"Again, don't worry about it. I get it, it's my first day too." She grabbed her schedule from his hands. "I'm Bella."

"Jeremy." He said giving a smile at her. "I should probably get my schedule; it was nice to meet you Bella."

Bella nodded, "Good luck, Jeremy."

Jeremy grinned, "Same to you." He said watching her walk away before he turned back to the door to the front office and walked in. He grabbed his schedule and the map of the school and set off, it was moments like these that he truly hated that Elena had forced him to leave Mystic Falls, starting a new school in the middle of the semester was a living hell.

Jeremy entered his home room and handed the teacher the sign in sheet. He looked around the room and couldn't help but smile at the only empty seat, it was next to the girl he had knocked down. He was slightly confused when she still had her sunglasses on, but pushed that back in his mind.

"I hope you don't mind if I sit here." He said as he took the seat beside her.

"I'd be an asshole to tell you to sit somewhere else since that's the only seat open." She responded pulling out a book and opening it up to read.

"I'm assuming you're not blind, so is there a reason you're wearing sunglasses indoors?" Jeremy questioned leaning back in his chair and watching her. "Is it to hide from the stares of everyone else?"

"I don't tend to care what others think of me. Afterall, I won't be seeing any of these people once high school is over." She glanced over at him, her glasses hiding her eyes, therefore hiding her analyzing look. "Sensitivity to light, I can't take them off, doctor's orders. I'm not an asshole hiding behind a pair of glasses. Is this game of 21 questions over? As much as I enjoyed it, I would like to read my book."

Jeremy smiled, "It wasn't really a game of 21 questions, but by all means continue with your book. Tell me how it ends when you're through with it."

"They all die at the end." Bella responded turning her head to the book with a smirk.

-Page Break-

Bella turned her head as Jeremy followed her to her next class. "My dad's the sheriff, I can have you arrested for stalking."

Jeremy smiled, "I think we have the same schedule." He said walking directly beside her. "I shouldn't be in AP anything, yet I am. I think the school just didn't want to create two schedules, so they gave me yours. I figured there was no reason for me to get lost on my first day if I could just follow you."

Bella looked at him for a second and sighed. "This doesn't make us friends."

"Of course not." Jeremy responded with a smile. "It makes us acquaintances, we don't get to the friendship level until we're able to sustain a conversation for more than 5 minutes. After that we become best friends when we have nicknames for each other."

Bella didn't respond but continued to walk to her next class. She entered the history class and handed the sign in sheet to the teacher at the same time Jeremy did. She waited for him to fill out the paper and took a seat in the back, ignoring the loud whispers from Jessica and Lauren as she walked past them. These were two girls Bella already knew are the royal gossipers of Forks high.

Bella pulled out a notebook and pencil and looked towards the front of the class. This school was too small, she missed her school in phoenix. There were so many students she could be invisible, no need for anyone to know who she was or to involve her in their gossip.

She looked to Jeremy for a moment and rolled her eyes, of course he would sit beside her.

"Want to hear the news?" Jeremy said pulling out a notebook from his bag.

"No, I don't believe I do." Bella responded glancing over at him for a single moment.

Jeremy grinned. "I'll tell you anyway." He leaned in closer to her. "We're partners now, there's a history project due in two weeks, so we get to work together."

Bella sighed, "That sounds great."

"I'm glad you think so." Jeremy responded with a wide smile.

Bella looked to Jeremy as he wasn't paying any attention to the lecture, but only doodling on his notebook. She couldn't help the twitch of a smile when Jeremy held up his notebook to her to show the drawing of Jessica and Lauren in cartoon version, their heads on chicken bodies. She turned her head back to the front of the class as Jeremy smirked at her slight smile.

As class ended Bella slowly headed to lunch, not surprised when Jeremy followed after her. "It's lunch, you don't have to follow me to the cafeteria."

"You can act all you want, but you like me. We're going to be friends." Jeremy responded walking slowly at her side. "So, Bella, where did you come from?"

"Hell." Bella responded with a smirk. "I'm part demon."

Jeremy laughed and smiled. "That's interesting, I'm from Virginia, Mystic Falls to be exact."

Bella sighed as they entered the cafeteria. "Phoenix, I'm from Phoenix, but my first answer was accurate. Phoenix _is_ hot as hell."

Jeremy smiled, "Interesting. Your dad move here for a new job?"

Bella shook her head. "My dad has lived here his entire life, I moved here because my mom left me and I don't like living alone."

"I…" Jeremy took in a deep breath. "I don't know what to say, I feel like if I say I'm sorry you'd only get annoyed with me."

Bella smiled, "You're right, truthfully, I'm not sorry she and I never got along very well. I feel obligated to ask, why did you come to Forks?"

Jeremy smiled, "My sister thought it was the best choice for me, our parents died a few years ago and she believed it would be best if I got a change of scenery." The lie came out easier than he thought it would, the truth was Elena had sent him here, not for a change of scenery but more because of his constant urge to kill her. His hunter instincts had been taking over and it was decided it would be better for him to leave, so he and Alaric packed up and headed to the most boring town they could discover.

Bella smiled, "You're not entirely telling the truth, but okay. I'm sorry about your parents, you can change the topic if you wish."

"I am telling the truth." Jeremy argued instinctively.

"No, you're not." Bella responded with a smile. "I can spot a lie a mile away, my dad taught me that before I could form sentences. You're telling a partial truth, but there's a lie in there. I don't think you're lying about your parents, but I think you're partially lying about why you moved here. Don't worry, I'm not one to pry."

Jeremy nodded, "Okay."

Bella grabbed a salad container and moved forward to pay for her lunch. She moved around the cafeteria and took a seat at an empty table by the window. She wasn't surprised when Jeremy took a seat across from her.

"Just a salad?" Jeremy asked. "You didn't even add anything to it! You're going to starve to death."

Bella rolled her eyes and opened the container. "I don't eat meat, and unless you didn't notice, there aren't a lot of options for me to take."

"How long have you been meat free?" Jeremy questioned as he unwrapped his sandwich.

"Ever since I was a kid." Bella responded as she began to pick at her salad.

Jeremy looked over his shoulder as he got that strange feeling in the back of his head. Something was wrong with the family in the corner of the cafeteria. He turned his head back to Bella as she reached for her phone as it rang on the table. He partially saw the name Luther pop up on the screen before Bella quickly turned it off and stuck the phone in her bag.

"Is your dad really the Sherriff of the town?" Jeremy asked curiously. "Or did you just make that up?"

Bella grinned, "He's the chief of police, and has been on the force ever since he turned of age. My grandad used to be Chief of Forks as well, it runs in the blood."

"Is that your plan?" Jeremy questioned curiously. "Become a police officer after graduating?"

Bella shook her head, "No, I'm going to Julliard or at least that's the plan. I have my final audition in December."

Jeremy's eyes went wide, "Julliard? really?"

"I play the Cello, and sing occasionally, it was enough to get me an audition so I assume I'm alright at my talent." Bella said sipping at her drink.

Bella ate her salad slowly listening to Jeremy talk about his old hometown. She felt herself starting to like him, because he wasn't one to force her to talk. Afterall, he talked enough for the both of them. "Come on, we have to head to Biology." Bella said as the bell rang.

Jeremy stood, "So you've accepted that we're friends and are going to happily let me cheat off your papers?"

Bella rolled her eyes, "I don't really have a choice, do I? And I suggest you keep your eyes on your own paper, I'm not above giving you the wrong answers."

-Page Break-

Bella entered the science class with Jeremy behind her. They both handed their slips to the professor before being directed to sit at the only available table. Bella took a seat in the middle while Jeremy sat on her right. On her right was her other lab partner, Edward, someone who she knew wasn't human.

Bella couldn't help but lean towards Jeremy, she didn't particularly like Edward. It wasn't really that there was something wrong with him, she just didn't particularly get along with his kind. She noticed his golden eyes turned pitch black in a matter of seconds. She knew exactly what that meant, he was thirsty, and she sure as hell wasn't going to be his snack of choice for the day.

Jeremy looked at Bella strangely as she was sitting closer to him than before. He knew in the pit of his stomach that it had something to do with Edward. He pulled out his sketch book and opened to a blank page. He drew the hangman post and at the bottom wrote out the letters to the alphabet. Once he was done he nudged Bella slightly to get her attention.

Bella couldn't help the twitch of her lips, she got her pencil and underlined a. She saw Jeremy fill in the spot and by the end of the class she had just about completed the puzzle.

As the bell rang and Edward ran out of the room Bella smiled at Jeremy. "Can I take a guess?"

Jeremy grinned, "If you think you can."

Bella threw her backpack over her shoulder. "Was it, 'our lab partner is creepy?"

Jeremy nodded, "Yes, whenever I play these sorts of games I tend to stick to true statements.

Bella rolled her eyes under her glasses. "I know you can't see it, but I'm rolling my eyes at you."

"Thanks for that information." Jeremy responded with a smile. "What class is next on the list?"

"Study hall." Bella responded heading out the door. "Where people normally study."

"I thought we could play another round of hangman, or tic tac toe. Maybe we could even play rock, paper scissors!" Jeremy said walking beside Bella.

"Sorry, I have a GPA I have to maintain." Bella responded as she expertly avoided the others in the halls.

"I'm starting to think this friendship of ours is going to force me to try harder in school. You're going to make me a nerd." Jeremy said with a smile. "Should I get glasses too? You know those fake ones that have normal glass on them. Or is that too much?"

-Page Break-

Bella pulled up the hood of her sweater and began to head in the direction of her home, the walk wouldn't be long and she appreciated the time to think.

"Hey." Jeremy shouted after her. "Do you need a ride?"

Bella looked at him and sighed as his shout had caught the attention of just about everyone in the school parking lot. "No, I'm good. I like to walk. Thanks for the offer." She turned back around and continued with her walk, she finally pulled out her phone and responded to Luther's text.

 _Starting school in the middle of the fall semester, wonderful idea. I was stared at and whispered about all day, what a joy. Thanks for sending me to my own personal hell._

She couldn't help the small smile that tugged at her lips at his reply.

 _You're welcome._

She tucked her phone away, and turned her head and rolled her eyes at the black car that was driving agonizingly slow beside her. "I can walk."

"I know, but I think we live near each other." Jeremy responded with a wide smile. "Come on, are you tired of talking to me already?"

Bella grinned, "Frankly, yes."

Jeremy laughed, "Fine, I'll see you tomorrow."

"You're holding up traffic, hurry along now." Bella said stopping in her walk to gesture for him to drive away. Once he had sped away she had continued to walk her way home. Her mind drifted back to what Luther had told her, he hadn't restricted her powers, she had somehow done it herself.

She couldn't help but wonder if he was right. Maybe there was a chance that she had somehow done this to herself. Her anger, frustration and hate had overcome her mind and were somehow holding her back in a way.

She groaned out in slight frustration as she didn't know what to do. She didn't know what to do to make her head clear, to get rid of the anger she felt inside.

AS she approached her home she saw the house at the corner of the street with the familiar black car in the driveway. "Perfect." They were neighbors and partners in almost every class, it seems she had unwillingly found herself a new friend.

She headed inside the house and up to her room, if there was one thing Luther had always told her that seemed useful was to continue to play and she had been lacking lately so maybe that would be what she would do now.

-Page Break-

"I met a girl." Jeremy said as he saw Ric set down a bag of takeout from the diner. "Her name is Bella."

"I thought you were in love with Bonnie." Ric responded handing Jeremy a burger. "You know, the whole love of your life thing."

Jeremy rolled his eyes, "We didn't even date officially, she was too embarrassed, remember? Anyway, this girl, she's different. There's something off about her, but not in the human way in the supernatural way. I can sense it, but not really, it's not the same as when I'm near Elena or Damon."

"So you think she could be some sort of werewolf or something?" Ric responded glancing up at the young boy curiously.

Jeremy shook his head, "No, she's too calm to be a werewolf, and werewolves are always physically at their best health, she has an eye condition. And she's not a vampire, but I swear Ric she's _something_. Then there were this group of kids, they're some sort of family/cult. I got a vibe from them, they're vampires or something. They kept staring at Bella, but not in the same way as the other kids, they were staring at her like at any moment they would all snap and lunge at her. I think they could notice something was different with her too."

"Do you think she could be dangerous?" Ric questioned taking a bite of his burger.

Jeremy shook his head. "No, Bella seemed closed off, but not dangerous. Trust me Ric, she looks harmless, but there's this sense to her too."

Ric smirked, "Are you sure all of this isn't just you having some sort of crush on her? Why don't you just ask her out, see if that helps."

"Ric, if I ask her out, she'd push me away. I have to be her friend first, get her to really like me before I can even think about asking her out." Jeremy responded with a wide smirk. "Oh, and please don't say anything to Elena, I don't want her lecturing me and telling me to just lay low and play normal."

Ric made the motion of zipping his lips before he took another bite of his burger. To tell the truth, he was happy to see this part of Jeremy come out. The part that reminded him of the kid who was supposed to be out living his life, enjoying his final year of high school. This is what he had been hoping for when they made the decision to move.

-Page Break-

Bella laced up her shoes and decided that a good way to try and tire herself out was to go for a midnight jog. She slowly climbed out her window and looked around, once she had the location she wanted to head in she took off.

The only question that ran through her mind was Why?

She couldn't understand why her mother hated her.

Why Luther waited until she was 12 to tell her the truth.

Why Charlie didn't say anything until she confronted him.

Why was she cursed to live in this personal hell of hers.

Bella leaned over and took in a heavy breath, she placed her hands on her knees and tried to steady her breathing. She felt her vision blur and instantly regretted not bringing her glasses, she didn't want anyone to see her eyes. She looked around to make sure no one was around before she started running back to her home.

She quickly climbed back up the tree and into her room. She quietly walked into the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. Her eyes were what she hated the most about herself, ever since she was 12, she despised the way they looked. They were the number one indicator that there was something wrong with her. That she wasn't like everyone else.

She had lost her brown eyes, they had been replaced with a bright red, the white in her eyes was black. They had been the curse that had forced her to wear sunglasses everywhere, the curse that forced her to hide who she was for much of her life.

She tied her hair up and lightly splash her face with water before she headed back to her room. She hated to admit it, but maybe Luther was right and she needed to deal with her emotions. She needed to deal with everything that seemed to be destroying her.

Bella hated it when Luther was right. Of course, she would never tell him that he was right, that just wasn't going to happen anytime soon.


	3. Give

Author's Note

-Page Break-

Bella placed on her shoes and grabbed her bag by the door as she headed out to school. Today she was walking, as Charlie was back to working the early morning shifts, and Bella had no intention on ruining the routine he had set up at work just so she could get a ride to school. Today she had insisted that she could walk, Afterall, Forks was so small that the walk was easy.

As she stepped onto the sidewalk of the street she noticed that Jeremy was just walking out of his home. She turned and began to walk to the school, all the while scrolling through her phone to read all the messages Luther had sent her.

Most of them were to keep her updated on the happenings of those who were after her, assuring her that they had not found her and that she was safe in Forks. She simply responded back to him with a: Got it.

She put her phone in her pocket as she heard the familiar voice calling her name. She turned and saw Jeremy driving once again incredibly slow beside her. "Morning." She greeted pausing her walking and turned to face him completely. "Can I help you with something? Most likely driving lessons as you clearly don't know how to keep up with the speed limit. "

Jeremy grinned, "I'll let you nag at me if you get in the car. It's cold out, and I have an incredible heater system, we're also going in the same direction."

Bella sighed, "If I get in, just know that my dad will murder you if we get into an accident."

Jeremy smiled. "Noted, get in the car!" He leaned over and opened the door for her.

Bella stepped into the car and put on her seat belt immediately. "Are you sure you have your license? I think I'm going to need proof."

Jeremy laughed, "I'll show you my license, my registration, and my insurance if you want. I'm a good driver, I've only been in one accident, but I swear that tree came out of nowhere."

Bella couldn't help the small laugh that escaped her, "You're an idiot." She responded with a small smile.

"Maybe, but this idiot is now you're friend and you're sort of stuck with me from now on." Jeremy responded with a smile. "So, when are we going to start our history project? I mentioned it to Ric yesterday and he gave me a lot of ideas for it. He's a bit of a history nerd, I suppose that's why he teaches it."

"Ric is your guardian here, right?" Bella questioned in return.

Jeremy nodded, "He's sort of family. He and my aunt were pretty serious, up until her death."

"I'm willing to hear any ideas he or you have." Bella responded simply. "Just to let you know, I am not doing all the work myself."

Jeremy laughed, "I didn't expect you to, but at least I know the offer is off the table."

"Were did you learn to draw?" Bella questioned curiously. "I noticed you tend to have a real talent for it."

Jeremy faked a gasp as he pulled into the school parking lot. "Did that hurt?"

Bella tiled her head at him curiously. "Did what hurt, nothing happened."

Jeremy smirked, "You complimented me, that must've hurt a little."

Bella sighed and reached for the door handle. "I repeat, you're an idiot."

Jeremy followed her movement and got out of the car. "My mom used to paint whenever she had free time, so I started to draw with her. Over the years, I really picked up on it and developed a love for it."

Bella nodded, she went to respond but was instantly bombarded by the last two people she expected. Jessica Stanely and Lauren Mallroy. They both greeted her excitedly and asked her about her day. She turned to look at Jeremy who seemed to be in the same predicament with Mike and Tyler. When did Jessica and Lauren develop an interest in her, and since when did Tyler and Mike decide Jeremy was their new best friend?

Bella took in a deep best trying her best not to look angry when Jessica takes her by the hand towards her group of friends. It takes more strength then she would like to admit to try and look interested as they introduce themselves.

"Are you and Jeremy close?" Jessica questions, twirling a brown piece of her hair as she looks at Bella expecting a quick answer. "I mean you two basically spent the entire day to yourselves yesterday."

"It was like you two knew each other before coming here." Lauren added crossing her arms over her chest and staring at Bella. "Are you two like dating or something?"

Bella couldn't help but wish it was the day before, when all she had to do was communicate with Jeremy and nobody else. Trying to put up with teenage gossip seemed harder than anything she ever had to do before. This including dealing with vampires that wanted her dead.

"No, we're not dating. We only share the same schedule." Bella responded.

Bella smiled gratefully as the bell rang, "Have to get to class, don't want to be late." She says hurriedly moving quickly to head inside the school and into the now busy halls. As she's rounding the corner to her class she can hear Jeremy moving to walk beside hr.

"You left me there to die." Jeremy said with an affronted look on his face. "I'm slightly angered by it."

Bella smiled, "I had my own problems to worry about if you didn't notice. I'd take Mike and Tyler over Jessica and Lauren any day."

Jeremy looked at her questioningly. "Really? You're telling me you'd take the two guys who are obviously only talking to me because they have a little crush on you. Over the two girls who all they do is go on about mindless garbage? You'd rather handle flirting than a few minutes of talk?"

Bella's brows furrowed together in thought. "I take it back, you're right. And you have no place to talk in this, the only reason Jessica and Lauren are suddenly my friends is because they think you're cute."

Jeremy smirked, "Are you saying I'm not?"

Bella grinned and shrugged her shoulders. "You're just about average."

-Page Break-

Bella couldn't help the smile that forms on her face as Jeremy pushed his desk beside her in History. "What are you doing? You didn't have to push the desks together."

"I did." Jeremy responds with his signature smile. "We have a lot of work to do, and for once I know exactly what I want to do an a project."

Bella couldn't help but smile. "Alright, tell me what's your wonderful plan for all of this?"

"I think we should do it on Joseph Stalin." Jeremy began, his voice in a whisper as he didn't want to let his idea be known to the others.

Bella couldn't help the slight chuckle that escaped her at hearing his idea. "Really? We're supposed to do a presentation on a leader, and you choose one of the most unethical leaders of all time?"

Jeremy nodded, "Yes, because everyone else is going to do some really lame person and they're all going to sound the same. Besides, our teacher thinks it's a genius idea."

Bella nodded. "Okay, let's get started then, but if I get any dirty looks because of this I'm blaming it on you."

Jeremy smiled, "Well, let's get started. I've already done the first step, I created the cover for our paper."

Bella leaned over and looked at the cartoon Jeremy had drawn. It was more ridiculous than the one he had drawn the day before of Jessica and Lauren. This time Stallion was cartoonized and on a surfboard and the title read. "Surfing Into Unethical Leadership."

Jeremy joined Bella as they both laughed at their new report cover. "You're welcome, I know this picture alone is going to get us an A."

-Page Break-

Bella moved through the sea of students to start on her walk home. As soon as her feet hit the parking lot pavement she feels a hand on her wrist leading her in the opposite direction. "What are you doing?"

Jeremy sighed, "I'm driving you home. You live across the street, I think it's safe to assume we're going to be carpooling from now on."

"You shouldn't assume anything." Bella said as Jeremy let go of her hand and walked beside her to the car. "I could very well turn and runaway now and you'll never catch up."

"You won't, because secretly you want me to give you a ride home. We're friends now and that is what friends do."

Bella smiled, "Okay, we're friends then."

Jeremy stopped walking slightly stunned at Bella's statement. "Good, now that we're friends you want to come over so we can finish this project… _And_ so that you can help me with my math homework, because I clearly do not belong in Calculus."

Bella smiled, "I have to cook for my dad, so you'll have to come to my home."

"Okay, but just to let you know if you try to take advantage of me I'm skilled in martial arts." Jeremy responded with a smile.

Bella rolled her eyes at him, she knew he couldn't see her eyes, but she felt like he already knew what she was doing.

Bella got into Jeremy's car and placed on her seatbelt. "You never showed me your license."

Jeremy smiled, "You're overreacting, I told you I'm a wonderful driver."

"You keep saying that, but I can't help but wonder if the state things you're a wonderful driver or not." Bella responded with a smile. "And if you want help in calculus you have to be serious, because I used to charge $13 an hour for tutoring lessons in Phoenix."

Jeremy laughed, "What did you use to tutor?"

"Math on Mondays, science on Tuesdays and I gave cello lessons on Wednesday." Bella responded with a smirk. "It was the same kid, his name was Tanner, annoying little monster."

"I'm sad to see how much you miss him." Jeremy responded with a smile. The drive to Bella's home was short, especially when Jeremy drove just a little over the speed limit.

Jeremy parked in front of the Swan house and got out of the car. "How about we skip working on the history project, and get straight to calculus, because I think that will take the longest to do."

"Sure." Bella said taking out the key to the house and stepping in, she showed Jeremy to the small kitchen. "Sit on the barstool, get your homework out while I get some ingredients out for the dinner."

"Since when did you get so bossy?" Jeremy questioned lightheartedly.

"I've always been bossy, but you haven't known me long enough to know everything about me." Bella responded with a smile.

Bella began to cut the vegetables while she talked Jeremy through the problems. She had already done her homework in study hall, while Jeremy doodled on his notebook.

"Nope." Jeremy said looking back at the homework. "This can't be the answer."

Bella leaned over the counter and peeked at Jeremy's work. "That's the right answer. You're doing really good, Jeremy."

Jeremy smiled, "Thanks, Bella." He leaned forward again to get back to his work. He watched as Bella continued to move around the kitchen, as if she knew exactly what she was doing. "How'd you learn how to cook?"

Bella shrugged, "The only books in the house growing up were cook books, so I read and I practiced. All the bake sales for school and clubs, I made the baked goods and when I realized people liked them I started to try more. Eventually it sort of just became a hobby, like the cello, it was something I was good and something I actually enjoyed to do."

"Then how did you start playing the cello?" Jeremy questioned setting his pencil down to listen to Bella's answer.

Bella tensed for a moment before going back to preparing the chicken. "She didn't have much time to babysit me, so as soon as I was able to, she put me into classes. I think I've been playing cello since I've been in preschool."

"Do you actually like it?" Jeremy questioned seriously. "I mean, it seems like it's something hard to do."

"I hated it at first." Bella responded quietly, she didn't know it would be so easy to say that aloud. "I only started to enjoy it about two years ago."

"Then why did you keep going, if you hated it, why try?" Jeremy asked leaning forward on the counter.

Bella felt her eyes fill with tears. "I-I…"

"Sorry." Jeremy said with a frown. "I didn't mean to upset you."

"You didn't." Bella said with a shrug. "It's just hard to admit." She returned to preparing the chicken breasts to help distract herself as she answered the question. "I kept going because I thought it made her happy. I wanted her to love me, so I did whatever she told me to do. I hated playing the cello, but she loved it because I was some sort of child prodigy. A nice little porcelain doll she could display to all her friends."

"When I was a kid, I had this bully, his name was Josh and he used to spend every day teasing me during elementary. And on the last day of second grade, he told everyone in our class he was leaving. I got really happy, and angry and I remember I went crying to my mom because I didn't know why I was so sad about it." Jeremy said he smiled at Bella, making his eyes warm and bright as he looked at her.

"And my mom told me that even if we don't like something or someone that when they're gone we miss them. We miss them not because we love them ,or because we want them in our lives again. We mourn their loss because we know deep down that now that they're gone we're different. We mourn the piece of innocence we lose to those that have hurt us, we mourn for the part of us that they take with them when they leave." Jeremy said giving Bella a faint smile as he finished.

Bella turned to Jeremy and gave him a real smile. One of the truest smiles Jeremy had seen on her as of yet. "Thanks, Jer. You don't know how helpful that actually is to me."

Jeremy's face widened into a grin. "You called me 'Jer'. We're already reaching best friend level!"

Bella laughed and shook her head. "You're an idiot."

Jeremy laughed, "That makes two nicknames now! I got to say, this is going much better than I thought it would."

-Page Break-

Jeremy looks at the two covered plastic tins that Bella placed in the passenger seat of his car. "What is that?"

"That's dinner." Bella said. "Chicken breast, white rice and a side of steamed vegetables. There's one for you and for Alaric. Have a goodnight, Jer."

Jeremy grinned, "Night!" He yells back to Bella with a smile as she heads back inside her home.

Jeremy drives the short distance back to his home and easily slips his back over his shoulder and carries both plates of food inside. "RIC! I'm back."

Alaric appeared coming out of the kitchen. "Hey, I was thinking of trying to make some soup. You want some?"

Jeremy shook his head holding out the plates to him. "I've got dinner set for us."

Alaric took the plates and looked at each of them curiously. "Where'd you get these?"

"I was hanging out at Bella's, she made them. One for you and one for me, it smells really good." Jeremy said dropping his backpack to the floor.

Alaric smirked, "You were with Bella huh? How'd that go?"

"She called me, Jer." Jeremy said with a smile. "And she said we were friends, so you know overall awesome day. I really like her, Ric. Even if I never date her, I think she'd be an amazing friend to have."

Alaric smiled he took a bite of the food and sighed in relief. "Home cooking tastes so much better than takeout."

Jeremy smiled, "Bella's been cooking since she was a kid, I would say it's a pretty handy skill to have."

Ric smiled slyly as Jeremy ate. The boy had no clue how lovesick he looked, and it had only been two days. "You should bring her over one day, let me meet her. I promise I won't embarrass you in front of her."

Jeremy shrugged, "We'll see how it goes."

Alaric took another spoonful of food and eyed Jeremy. "So tell me about her!"

Jeremy smiled, "She's a genius, Ric, she does calculus in minutes and she's really good at writing and she likes to read. Not to mention that she can play the cello, she's got an audition to _Juilliard_. I think you'd like her, Ric, she's just really amazing."

-Page Break-

Friday morning Jeremy headed to Bella's home knocking on the door as he done for that last two days to make sure that Bella didn't start walking to the school instead of getting a ride from him.

Jeremy was startled when he saw Bella open the door with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. "You know, I'm open to any style of choice, but a blanket is a little much fon't you think?"

Bella sighed, and wrapped the blanket tighter around herself. "Thanks for coming by, but I'm not going to school today. I'm taking a sick day."

Jeremy eyed her curiously. "Are you actually sick, or are you just tired and don't want to go to school."

Bella shrugged, "I have a bit of a headache if that counts for anything."

Jeremy rolled his eyes, "Yeah, okay. I'll see you afterschool? I'll drop off your homework for you."

Bella smiled. "Thanks, Jer."

"Get better." Jeremy said with a smirk. "Actually, don't get better, because this means I'm going to have to deal with Jessica and Lauren on my own."

Bella smirked, "Good luck." Bella said watching him head back to his car. She closed the door to the house once he was gone and took off her glasses setting them on the table by the door. She headed towards the living room and laid down on the couch and stared up at the ceiling. She didn't really think about anything, she just wanted a few moments to escape her mind and think about nothing.

After what felt like forever to her Bella stood and decided that a better way to spend her day would be to clean the home.

Bella started with the upstairs, doing her bed and Charlie's before moving onto the bathroom. She headed downstairs and cleaned the living room and the kitchen. Once she was done she went ahead and started preparing the food for dinner, she went as far as making dessert too. Once she had done everything it was barely 11am and she was going to lose her mind if she didn't find something to do.

She headed upstairs and changed out of her pajamas and into a sweatshirt and some jeans, she grabbed her Cello case and headed downstairs, she might as well enjoy the peace and quiet, and get a bit of fresh air while she's at it.

Bella took out her phone and choose out a playlist that was recommended to her. She pressed play before she started to play, playing the music as it played. She didn't notice as the songs started to repeat as she had gone through the entire playlist more than once now.

Jeremy pulled into the Swan house, and before he set a foot outside of his car he could already hear the music coming from the house. He knocked on the door, but he was sure Bella was oblivious to his knocking. He shrugged and walked around the house, the closer he got to the back porch the louder the music felt to him.

As he turned the corner he saw Bella, and he felt his jaw fall to the floor. She was oblivious to him, he would bet anything that under her glasses her eyes were closed. He leaned against the frame of the porch and watched her. There was a Taylor Swift song playing in the background, but he could barely hear it as Bella's Cello masked it, it's rhythm keeping up to the beat of the song.

He couldn't help but clap once it ended. "That was good, B."

Bella looked up at him in surprise. "Is school out already?" She looked at her phone and sighed. "I've been out here for hours, shit." She stood and tucked her cello inside her case. "Come in, I made food."

"You don't need to bribe me to be your best friend." Jeremy said walking behind her. "So, what did you do today?"

"I cleaned, cooked and then I played my cello." Bella responded with a shrug. "How was school?"

"Awful, Jessica and Lauren of course were horrible." Jeremy said with a smirk. "Angela says she hopes you feel better and took notes for you in Calculus. And Mike wanted to know if you would be feeling well enough to go to the movies with him next week."

Bella rolled her eyes, "Our lab partner come back yet?"

"Nope." Jeremy said sitting down on the counter stool. "I think we really scared him off."

Bella smirked, "We?" She said with a raised eyebrow.

"Okay." Jeremy said with a sigh. " _You_ scared him off."


	4. Spell It Out

Author's Note

I liked this chapter! Anyway, next update on Friday? Maybe Sunday…

Tell me what you think, and I hope you enjoy!

-Page Break-

"Morning, Jeremy." Charlie said stepping aside and letting Jeremy into the home. One month since Bella had moved back to Forks, and almost every day Jeremy had visited the Swan home. Making him a permanent fixture in the household. "Don't you ever get any sleep, son?"

Jeremy smiled, "Ric woke me up early, he has some sort of carnival or something going on at the middle school."

Charlie nodded, "Yeah, I have to head over soon to do my speech."

"It's not a speech, it's a play!" Bella shouted from the kitchen.

Charlie sighed and entered the kitchen with Jeremy. "You and Jeremy got any plans today?"

"No."

"Yes."

Bella looked to Jeremy, "I'm not doing anything today."

Jeremy sighed, "I was thinking of going to Seattle. I ruined my backpack."

"How'd you do that?" Charlie questioned grabbing the lunch Bella made him.

"I left it outside last night during the rain, and then this morning Ric ran over it with his car." Jeremy said with a frown. "It was a natural accident."

Bella laughed along with her dad. "Yeah, natural accident all right."

"Be safe in Seattle." Charlie said walking out the door. "And be back by curfew."

"How do you know I'll agree to with him?" Bella questioned incredulously as she looked after her dad.

Charlie sighed, "I think I know my kid. Be safe."

Bella nodded, "Bye dad."

"Bye Chief." Jeremy said leaning against the kitchen counter. "I was hoping we could leave soon. I figured we could walk around for a while and kill sometime. Overall avoid going to that carnival."

Bella nodded, "Let me grab a jacket."

"I'll bring the car around." Jeremy smiled.

"There's muffins in the kitchen." Bella said in return as she headed up the stairs.

"Thank you!" Jeremy shouted in return.

-Page Break-

Bella walked beside Jeremy as they aimlessly walked through the mall. "Music shop." Bella said immediately entering the store.

Jeremy followed her, "Do you need anything?"

Bella shook her head. "That doesn't mean there's not something I want."

Jeremy smiled and looked at all the different instruments they had. He turned to see Bella analyzing cases that were hanging on the wall. "Planning on getting a new one? The old one does look like it'll break any minute."

"I've had it since I was 12, and you're right, it has seen better days." Bella said as she admired the cases.

"Can I help you with anything?" A sales clerk questioned approaching Bella.

Bella nodded, "White cello case, may I see it?"

The man looked Bella up and down before crossing his arms over his chest. "That's a $800 case, young lady, I don't want to offend you, but I think that may be a little out of your price range. I have some $50 cases that I think would be better for you."

Jeremy turned to Bella and noticed how her shoulders tensed and her hands turned into fists. He went to say something to the man but was cut off by Bella.

"First, I don't remember asking for your opinion, I asked to see the case. You have no right to judge whether I can afford something in this store by my appearance. Second, I suggest you bring me your manager, because in about 15 seconds I'm going to make the biggest scene you've ever seen." Bella smirked at the guy and although no one could see it there was a glint her eyes. "Bring me your manager, because you really won't like me if you don't."

Jeremy watched in astonishment as the man promptly walked off in a huff. "You're going to make his life a living hell, aren't you?"

Bella nodded, "He has no right to judge me for my appearance, and I want to see that case and I know he won't let me."

Jeremy smiled, "Just don't get into any real trouble, your dad will kill me."

Bella smiled, "Don't worry, Jer."

The manager approached Bella with the other worker in his shadow. "Mam, how can I help you?"

Bella smiled sweetly. "I have a severe eye condition, and I would like to see that case up there. This worker here informed me that because of my appearance I couldn't see the case, because he believes it was clearly out of my price range. Now, to me that sounds like discrimination over someone with an illness. I would just like to know if you treat all your customers so rudely, or just those that have illnesses? Because I'm going to step out of this store, call my dad, who's the chief of police a town over and friends with the commissioner, and tell him about how a man wouldn't let his daughter see a simple case for her cello."

Jeremy looked away as the manager's eyes seem to grow wide at the sight of Bella. He looked down to the ground as the man promptly apologized and did his best to accommodate Bella. He couldn't help the smile on his face as the man threw in a free cello stand when Bella said she would buy the case.

Jeremy grabbed the case from Bella and carried it for her. "Did you buy this because you actually wanted it? Or because you wanted to prove that guy that you could buy it?"

Bella smirked, "A little bit of both. I bought the case with money from my tutoring lessons, if you were wondering."

"I wasn't." Jeremy responded with a smirk. "I figured if you were looking at something this expensive it was because you could afford it."

Bella smiled and followed along Jeremy, once an art supplies store came into view she knew Jeremy would be heading over in that direction. She headed in after him and smiled as his eyes practically lit up upon entering. She took the case from his hands and walked behind him. "Going to get some new sketching pencils?"

Jeremy nodded, "Maybe a sketchbook so that my notebooks can actually be for my classes."

Bella laughed, "Mr. Richardson likes them, he gives you extra credit for them."

"But Brown keeps deducting points for them." Jeremy responded with a smile.

Bella watched as Jeremy skimmed through all the pencils. She reached for her phone as it rang. "I'll be right back."

"Sure thing, B." Jeremy said looking at her. "I'll be here."

Bella headed out the store and answered the call. "Hello?"

"How are you, Maeva?" Luther questioned.

"I'm good." Bella responded honestly. "I'm in Seattle with a friend."

Luther hummed in response. "Have you begun to channel your powers again? You have been avoiding the subject for some time now, I'm growing worried."

Bella sighed and looked around. "My dreams are back." Bella whispered quietly. "And I've regained my telekinesis, but not my elemental shifting or the teleportation."

Luther let out a relieved sighed. "They will return with time, it'll be a slow process. I'm glad you're doing better. Have you seen anyone suspicious around you?"

"Not since the last time we've spoken." Bella responded with a sigh. "I'm going to have to go, I'm standing in the middle of a mall."

"Of course. Goodbye my dear." Luther said just before Bella hung up the phone.

Bella headed back in the store and found Jeremy in the sketchbook section looking through all the books. "You find one that you like?" Bella questioned leaning against the shelves.

"I'm glad you're back, I couldn't figure out how to choose which one I wanted, I need your help, B." Jeremy said looking through all the notebooks. Bella couldn't help but smile and moved to look through them with him.

-Page Break-

Bella smiled as Jeremy carried her case while she carried two bags filled with clothes, because truth be told she needed new things to wear. She looked over her shoulder as she got that bad feeling in the back of her mind. She got into the car with Jeremy as quickly as she could and when she looked over her shoulder and out the window she caught the blur of something in the window.

"Something wrong, B?" Jeremy questioned glancing at her for a moment before he turned back to the road.

Bella shook her head, "No, Jer." She smiled when he smiled at her, because truth be told, she found that every time he smiled it made her happy.

Bella watched the road pass through the window in nothing but a blur. To her, there was something strange in the blur of the road as they travelled back to Forks. And as the sky darkened, she could feel the pit of her stomach twist, and she knew that if she closed her eyes to sleep she would see something truly nightmarish in her dreams.

Bella noticed there were no longer any cars behind them, the road to Forks was empty. She reached over and placed her hand on Jeremy's chest as he hit the brakes rapidly and skidded off the road. "There's someone in the middle of the road." She whispered as the headlights of the car illuminated the figure that stood only feet in front of him.

Jeremy nodded, his jaw clenching as he saw that their car was now surrounded by them. He knew he couldn't hit them with the car, they wouldn't make it home with the damage. He reached over and opened the glove compartment, pulling out the gun that was placed there. Wooden bullets coated in vervain were his preferred choice in weaponry. "Stay in the car." He warned Bella as he opened the car door.

Not being one to be told what to do Bella got out of the car and quickly walked to Jeremy's side at his side glance she shrugged. "I've never been good with orders." She whispered. "And you can't handle all of them, Jer." She smelled the vervain as soon as he stepped out of the car, he had to know about vampires if he was so prepared to kill them. "There are too many, and you don't have enough wooden bullets for all of them.

There was a large growl that cut off Jeremy's response.

"We don't want you, boy." A dark-haired vampire snarled, baring his fangs at Jeremy. "We just want the girl." The vampire met Bella's eyes and closed his eyes inhaling her scent. He opened his eyes and couldn't help but lick his lips. "You smell delicious."

Bella smirked, "I get that a lot. But here's the thing, I don't plan on dying today. So here's what's going to happen, you're all going to leave, or me and him are going to kill you."

A loud snarl rang through the crowd of vampires, and as one launched at Bella, Jeremy shot off his gun, the vampire falling to the ground in an instant.

"I see you've made your choice." Bella said softly. She took off her glasses and tossed them towards the car. Her red eyes glowed brightly in the night, "I'm sorry for what's about to happen."

In an instant, there was a blur of movement. Gunshots could be heard as Jeremy fired off his gun, he looked to Bella to make sure she was okay, but what he saw took him by surprise. Her back was to him, but her arms was stretched out and it was on fire, but it didn't seem to hurt her at all. She had seven vampires lit on fire, and with her arm stretched out she had a few levitating off the floor.

Jeremy snapped his attention back to the task at hand as more vampires seemed to come out of nowhere. He reached into his jacket and pulled out the dagger he always had hidden there. He began to fight, moving with ease as he stabbed and fought the vampires around him.

He took a step back as he saw them all go up in flames. He turned back around to see Bella leaning against the car watching him, her arms crossed over her chest as she surveyed him. She had put back on her glasses, and had clearly been leaning against the car for a few minutes.

"You're part of the brotherhood of the Five, aren't you?" Bella said watching him closely. "It would explain your skills, your strength, agility and the fact that you could take down…" She paused and looked around. "10 vampires on your own."

Jeremy shrugged, "I am."

Bella nodded, she held out her arms and in a moment they were like water. Jeremy turned to see her putting out the fires. There was nothing left but ash, the only evidence anything happened on the road. "Come on, we don't want to be here any longer. I'm sure someone saw the smoke and reported it."

Jeremy sighed, "Are you going to explain exactly what just happened here?"

"We were attacked by a coven of vampires, and we handled it." Bella said with a shrug. "I thought you understood that, seeing as you're a hunter."

Jeremy rolled his eyes and got into the car behind Bella. "Of course I know that we just killed vampires, I was referring to you."

Bella sighed, "It's a long story, Jer, and I don't think you'll like me after you know the truth."

Jeremy rolled his eyes. "Don't be so dramatic, B. Did you forget that you and I are forever best friends?"

It was Bella's turn to roll her eyes at him. "Start driving. I'll talk while we get home."

Jeremy smiled and started the car, "So, where do you want to start?"

Bella sighed, she leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes. "There's no real term for what I am, or at least not an official one."

"That's fine by me, just give your best description." Jeremy responded watching Bella carefully. Knowing this was a conversation she had obviously never had to have with anyone.

"First off, I don't have an eye condition." Bella responded taking a deep breath. "I have to wear these glasses everywhere because they give away that I'm not exactly human."

"Can I see them?" Jeremy questioned eagerly.

Bella shook her head. "Not while you're driving."

"Okay, so keep going." Jeremy urged.

"I've told you about Renee, how I'm not really Charlie's daughter not by blood anyway." Bella said with a frown. "My father's name is Luther, he fell in love with my mom when she was 20. He didn't think she'd get pregnant with him, but clearly he was wrong. Renee left Luther shortly after she realized she was pregnant. She manipulated Charlie and told him that she didn't want her baby growing up without a father. Luther didn't take it very well, he loved my mom and he loved me as soon as he knew she was with a child, Renee just forbid him from coming near me. Charlie divorced Renee, her attitude had become too much for him, but he still promised to raise me. Renee is manipulative so she only allowed Charlie partial custody. That's when we started moving. When I was twelve we ended up in phoenix, and that's when I met Luther. I was starting the change, and he found me, behind Renee's back of course."

"What's the change?" Jeremy questioned. "Is it like the vampire transition."

Bell nodded her head, "What I am, it's being alive, but at the same time being dead. My father likes to refer to our kind as corpses, people who are trapped in the world of the living and of the dead. When I was 12 I went through puberty, which triggered the change for me. Each corpse develops a gift during their change, it's like a signature of who they are. Luther has what he calls the voice. He can make you do anything he wants just by speaking to you, and then he can drive you to insanity with nothing but a whisper."

"So you can control the elements?" Jeremy responded.

Bella shook her head. "No… well yes, but it's not the full story. My first gift was my dream. I started seeing the future in my dreams, and I could go into other's dreams and view them or manipulate them. I could make someone do what I wanted through their dreams. My father thought it was a different form of his gift."

"But you said you could only get one gift." Jeremy responded in confusion. "You have two."

Bella sighed and turned to look out the window, "Centuries ago, there was a woman with a true gift of sight. She didn't need to dream to see the future, and she could see _centuries_ into the future. One day, she saw something, a prophecy of sorts. She said that one day a corpse will be born that will change the world of all the corpses. She would have the ability to resurrect every corpse that never made it to the end of their transition. And that only she would make it so that the curse of the corpse could be chosen and not forced. She would make it so that corpses can choose who transitions, just like vampires. It would allow corpses to outrank vampires and werewolves, and to finally prosper in a world that has destroyed them in the pass. Only the corpse with gifts of many could break the curse."

"You think you're that girl? The one she saw breaking the curse?" Jeremy responded.

Bella nodded. "My father wasn't sure at first. I developed a strong dreaming ability that my father didn't believe I was the one she spoke about in her vision, but then I started getting stronger. As soon as I mastered my dreaming, I developed a new gift. After that, as soon as I mastered one gift, I developed a new one. By the time I was sixteen I had already mastered dreaming, telekinesis, and elemental shapeshifting."

"Elemental shapeshifting? You mean you can literally turn into fire." Jeremy responded his voice filled with wonder.

Bella nodded, she held out her hand and Jeremy watched as slowly each finger began to turn to water and then quickly it was as if her hand was made of sand. "This one took me two years to master, the others only took about a year. After this I started developing teleportation."

"You can teleport?" Jeremy asked excitedly.

"I could." Bella whispered. "My powers have been restricted, most of them anyways. They're coming back slowly."

"Restricted? They were taken away? By who?" Jeremy questioned.

"Myself." Bella responded quietly. "My father believes that it's because of my emotional state, he thinks I blocked myself."

Jeremy's face fell at the words. He knew enough about Bella to know what she was talking about. "When does your transition end?" He questioned changing the subject.

"On my 25th birthday." Bella responded immediately. "It's when we've fully matured and grown into our person."

"How many are there?" Jeremy questioned.

Bella sighed, "Including myself, 21."

"20? Only 20 others?" Jeremy questioned in astonishment. "Really?"

Bella nodded, "Most of us are chosen by the Earth, from the moment we're born we're cursed with this. I'm the only one who shares the blood of a corpse, the others weren't conceived like me. And the choosing of a corpse is rare, a lot of them die before the end of their transition. If I make it to my transition, I'll be the first in the last 150years to make it to full transition."

"How come the others don't make it?" Jeremy questioned. "What are the chances that something could happen to you?"

Bella shrugged her shoulders. "I honestly don't know if I'll make it, but my father trained me to fight, and the others are always near to help protect me."

"Protect you? Protect you from what?"

"There are two vampire covens that know about the existence of corpses, that know the weaknesses of our kind. The first is the Drakonas coven, they're the traditional form of vampires, like the ones we just killed. Their coven consists of more than 300 vampires. Their leader Xavier, has developed a crazy theory that if he sacrifices me the night before my 25th birthday he'll get my powers and be able to merge himself to be both vampire and corpse. You can always tell if a vampire is from the Drakonas coven by their neck, they have the coven crest scarred into their skin."

Bella took in deep breath. "Next, are the Volturi coven. They simply don't like our existence, they're the self-proclaimed kings of the second breeds. If the prophecy comes true, corpses will rise in numbers and we'll out rank them on the food chain. The Volturi are the real threat, at the first sign of a corpse, they kill them. My father was able to keep my existence a secret for years, but word travels amongst the supernatural and somehow both covens realized my existence. They've never gotten close, they don't know what I look like or where I was born. All they know is that I am alive, and they think my name is Maeva."

"Why would they think that?" Jeremy questioned

"Because it is." Bella whispered. "On a technicality, Renee named me Isabella Maeva Swan, to appease Luther. But once I was four days old she changed it to Marie and not Maeva. Luther refers to me as Maeva, and so do most of the other corpses, so when word got out that I was alive both covens only knew me was Maeva."

"So all corpses want this prophecy to come true because of the power you'll get?" Jeremy questioned, the thought of Bella being put in so much trouble because of a power battle didn't sit right with him.

Bella shook her head. "No, it's not about the power for corpses, it's about the ability to die."

"Death? Really? That's what they want to be able to die?" Jeremy responded his tone laced with disbelief.

"Jeremy, the oldest corpse is more than 3,000 years old." Bella responded. "Forever stuck at the age of 25, with no way to possibly die. Immortality can be a gift, but to others it's a curse. We're forever stuck in two worlds and never really belonging in either."

Jeremy pulled into Bella's driveway and turned the car off. "So why not say something? Why not tell me sooner?"

"Since the day of my change I have been told repeatedly not to trust anyone. My own mother hated me for what I was, I didn't want you to hate me." Bella whispered. "You were nice to me, and despite being incredibly annoying sometimes, I like having you around."

Jeremy grinned, "It's a good thing you're stuck with me then? Because, you're sort of one of my favorite people, Bumble B."

Bella rolled her eyes at the nickname. "You're an idiot." She said opening the car door and stepping out.

"Hey, you said you were going to show me your eyes!" Jeremy said stepping out as well.

"Help me take my stuff inside, and I will." Bella said grabbing her two shopping bags while Jeremy grabbed her case. She headed up the stairs knowing her dad wasn't home yet, she opened the door and stepped inside. She turned on the lights of the house as Jeremy entered in behind her.

"Alright, let's see them." Jeremy said with a wide grin.

"Jer… they can be a little off putting." Bella insisted.

Jeremy smiled being able to tell that she was obviously nervous. "Hey, if it makes you nervous you don't have to show me, I can wait. I just want you to know that you and I, we're always going to be friends, no matter what happens. And you being a little different isn't going to stop me from coming over here every day to hang out with you, because despite how awesome your cooking is, I come here to see you."

Bella smiled, "You're a sap." She said with shaky hands she reached up and removed her glasses. Her eyes met Jeremy's and she felt her hands shaking at her sides as he stared at her.

Jeremy stepped forward and gave Bella a hug. "See." He whispered. "I'm still here."

Bella returned the hug and sighed. "You're still a sap." She responded as relief filled her body at his acceptance of her.


	5. Make Your Move

Author's Note

Well… I hope you enjoy this chapter and what is to come!

Next post on Tuesday? Maybe… Wednesday?

Tell me what you think, and I hope you enjoy!

-Page Break-

Bella entered Jeremy's home, setting her backpack by the door. "So your sister was hunted by a vampire, she was killed but came back to life and you were killed only to come back to life as well. Your ex-girlfriends were two vampires and a witch? You know, I'm being hunted by two covens, but still your life seems a little more interesting than mine."

Jeremy laughed, "And Bonnie doesn't really count as a girlfriend, we really only made out a few times. She was always too scared to take it any further, she cared too much about what my sister thought."

Bella sighed, "Still more exciting than my life."

"You have incredibly amazing gifts, B." Jeremy responded as he and Bella headed to his room.

"Jer, the only mildly exciting thing I did was when I took a trip to Spain when I was 13." Bella responded with a shrug.

"You went to Spain?" Jeremy questioned in return.

Bella nodded, "Yeah, a friend of my father took me to Spain. My mom had left to Hawaii with her boyfriend at the time and left me home alone. And Luther couldn't watch me because he was going after Volturi members that were getting too close. He asked an old family friend to watch me, his name is Nik. My dad has known him for over 900 years, they go back a long time, Nik is sort of like an uncle."

"He sent you to Spain with someone you didn't know?" Jeremy questioned in surprise.

"No, I met Nik before that. He spent a few holidays with my dad, and by extension me." Bella responded casually. "He's not a corpse, but my father sees him as one, Nik is the only vampire my father has ever met that didn't want to kill him."

Jeremy nodded, "Are you telling me that you never dated anyone though? Because I told you all my horrible stories, I expect at least one in return."

Bella laughed, "Jeremy, I'm going to live forever, there's no point of me to date someone I can never really be with. Not to mention, if you date someone you're supposed to open yourselves up to that person, and I'm not exactly someone who can be very open about who they really are. So no, I've never _really_ dated anyone."

"You never _really_ dated anyone? That sounds suspicious." Jeremy said with a smirk.

Bella rolled her eyes. "Technicalities." Bella said with a shrug.

"I want to hear about these technicalities." Jeremy said flopping down on his desk chair.

"There was a kid named Roger, we sort of might've dated. It lasted a good two months, but then we both got bored and let things go." Bella said taking a seat on Jeremy's bed. "It wasn't exactly the definition of a relationship."

"But you dated him." Jeremy said in confusion, not being able to understand the burning in his chest, and the sinking feeling in his heart. "How long ago?"

Bella shrugged, "Towards the end of Junior year, we ended it right before the end of the school year." She smiled at Jeremy. "Are we going to watch a movie or are you going to continue to grill me about a guy that I didn't really date?"

"Okay, what do you want to watch?" Jeremy said with a smirk. "Spiderman series?"

Bella leaned back against the wall of Jeremy's bed. "I bet Lauren and Jessica wouldn't love you so much if they knew how much of a nerd you are." She laughed at his affronted look. "Don't look at me, put the movie on."

Jeremy smiled he stood and put the movie in, he moved and sat beside Bella on his bed. "Do you need me to explain to you who Spiderman is?"

Bella laughed, "No, I know who he is." She paused and looked to him. "He's the one who loses his parents in a shooting in an alley right? He's raised by his butler?"

Jeremy looked at her with wide eyes. "That's batman!"

Bella laughed and leaned back on the bed. "It was a joke, Jer."

Jeremy smiled and turned back to the T.V. in his room. "You're going to love this."

Halfway through the movie Bella had fallen asleep and was leaning against Jeremy's shoulders. Jeremy didn't mind, he had seen her almost every night climb out of her window and go for a run. And most times she didn't return until it was close to midnight. He could see now that her sleep deprivation had caught up to her. He carefully maneuvered her so that she was laying down on the bed. He draped his blanket over her and turned off the movie. He sat down at his desk and took out his drawing pad, deciding that maybe he'd just draw for now.

Jeremy turned his head as the door to his room opened. "Hey, Ric." He whispered.

Alaric smirked as he saw Bella asleep. "I bought pizza. I'll be downstairs if you need anything."

Jeremy nodded and turned back to his drawing. He kept looking over at Bella to make sure she was okay.

 _Bella looked around as she was in the woods, she knew these woods. She took a step forward and felt her body surge as she lost control of her body and she knew in the pit of her stomach what was going on._

" _Did you bring the flashlight?" Bella questioned turning her head to look at Jeremy._

" _Yeah, but I don't think we'll be out for that long." Jeremy responded with a sad smile. "We both know what did this."_

 _Bella nodded, "Yeah, and I think we know what family was a part of this."_

 _Jeremy leaned over and kissed her temple. "Come on, we should be reaching the others soon. I think Mike's group is near."_

 _Bella nodded, she took a hold of Jeremy's hand as they walked together through the woods. Bella's hand tightened around Jeremy's and the two paused as they heard the sound of gurgling. Together they took off towards the sound._

 _Bella placed pressure on the wound on Mike's neck. "Jeremy, you have to go get my dad, you have to get someone here, he's going to bleed to death."_

 _Jeremy took out his phone. "No signal, stay right here, I'll be right back."_

 _Bella nodded, she reached over and took off her sweater and ripped the sleeve to wrap it around the wound to help stop the blood. Bella gasped back as she felt the sharp end of a knife at her throat. She fell to the ground to see the golden eyes that hovered above her._

 _Bella grasped at her throat and blinked rapidly as everything around her began to turn black._

Bella gasped out as she was shaken awake. She sat up and looked around and met Jeremy's eyes. "I'm awake, right?"

Jeremy nodded, his hand came up and cupped Bella's cheek making sure she looked at him. "Yeah, you are. You okay, Bumble B?"

Bella nodded, "Yeah, just a bad dream."

Jeremy shook his head. "No, it was more than that. This was your gift, right?"

"I have to go." Bella said moving off the bed to stand. "Sorry, Jer." She said hurriedly walking out of the room. Jeremy followed her as she rushed down the stairs. "I'll see you tomorrow, Jer."

Jeremy froze at the door as Bella hurriedly walked out and ran to her house across the street. Jeremy sighed and turned to Ric, "You were right."

Alaric raised a curious brow. "About what?" Alaric shook his head. "Stupid question, you're in love with Bella aren't you?"

Jeremy nodded, "Yeah, I am." Jeremy sighed. "So what do I do about it?"

"What do you want to do about it?" Alaric questioned in return. "You know Bella better than I do, so you have to know how you need to approach this."

Jeremy nodded, "Yeah, you're right, Ric."

-Page Break-

Bella climbed out her window and turned towards the street. She paused and carefully approached as she saw Jeremy standing there. "What are you doing?"

Jeremy shrugged, "I see you do this all the time. I thought maybe I'd join you this time."

Bella smiled, "Okay, come on." She took off at a soft space. "Why did you really come out?"

"I was worried, whatever you saw in your dream seemed to really affect you." Jeremy said running beside her. "I just needed to make sure you were okay."

Bella nodded, "I saw my own death, I experienced it actually."

Jeremy stumbled for a moment. "You saw your own death?"

Bella nodded with a shake of her head. "It's happened before. It's just… hard to see it, to know what'll happen if I'm not careful. At the very least, I now know how to avoid it."

"Why don't you talk to Luther about it? You could always talk to me." Jeremy responded with a smile. "I'm an awful good listener."

Bella smiled, "I don't want to scare you. Seeing the future, it's a lot to take in. And Luther… I don't know about Luther."

"He's not going to leave you." Jeremy responded simply. "I know that's what you're scared of."

"I'm not…" Bella shook her head. "I'm not scared of that."

"Yes you are." Jeremy responded as he moved faster to keep up with her. "You do that to me all the time, but I have the patience of a saint. Look, I can't imagine how hard this will be for you, I know your mom really messed you up, but not everyone is like her. There are people out there that care about you, your dad, your father, me. We all just want you to be happy, and I think you have a hard time believing that we'll stick around. You trust Charlie because he's always been there, but because Luther came later it's harder for you. It's harder for you to trust someone because you think they'll exhibit the same behaviors as her."

Bella stopped her run. "Jer, it's not that easy. I can't just… I do trust you. I trust you far more than you really know, but Luther. It's different."

Jeremy paused. "Is it really?" Jeremy took a step closer to Bella. "He's your dad, and I know he stayed away from you for the longest time, but from everything you say about him and all the calls you have on speaker with him. He loves you, Bella. He loves you like any dad loves their kid, the way he talked to you, it was like how my dad talked to me. Are you sure that the only reason you act like you hate him is because you think that's how you should feel? Because I don't think you hate him, I think you love him just as much as you love Charlie, but you're not sure if he'll disappear like Renee."

Bella sighed, "Usually on my runs, I run until I'm physically tired. You're sort of ruining that purpose for me, Jer."

Jeremy smiled, "Okay, come on, let's get back to running. You can think about what I said."

-Page Break-

Jeremy entered the Swan home and watched as Bella came down the stairs with her backpack. "Feeling better?"

Bella shrugged her shoulders. "I suppose you can say that. I'm going to be skipping the first few periods, so I don't think I'll need a ride today."

Jeremy looked at her curiously. "Is something wrong? Are you okay?"

Bella nodded, "I'm fine, Jer. I just have something to do." She smiled and walked out of the house with him. "I did some thinking last night and got some things cleared up in my head."

Jeremy smiled. "Okay, is there anything I can do to help?"

"Make an excuse for me?" Bella said with a grin.

"Sure thing." Jeremy responded, he stood frozen as in a second Bella had disappeared. "Teleportation." He whispered as he shook his head and made his way back to his car to head back to school.

Bella appeared in a hotel room. She took a seat on the bed making an extra amount of noise to catch the attention of the man that was sitting on the desk in the room.

"Maeva." Luther said standing up, a wide smile crossing his face. "I'm happy to see you've gotten your teleportation back. This must mean that you're feeling better."

Bella nodded, "Yeah, I am feeling better. I guess I've been doing a lot of thinking. Not to mention that I made a friend who happens to be in the brotherhood of Five."

Luther stumbled slightly as he approached her. "You must be careful."

Bella nodded, "I know, but Jeremy is nice, he goes to school with me and lives right across the street. He helped me kill a coven of vampires that came after us. They weren't part of the Drakonas coven, just a coven that thought I smelled delicious. Anyway, Jeremy said something to me last night, and it got me thinking and the more I thought the more I realized he was right. And you know it sucks when someone is right and they prove you wrong."

Luther sat beside her and sighed. "You're in love with the boy."

Bella laughed, "That's not what I came to talk about."

Luther looked at her questioningly. "Was it to alert me that your powers returned? Or did you merely want to test out your gifts?"

Bella shook her head, she looked up at the roof and took in a deep breath. "I don't hate you."

"Maeva." Luther began, wanting to stop her from saying something that would upset her.

"Just let me do this." Bella responded quietly. "I always tried to make Renee happy, I thought that if she was happy she would love me. And then as I grew up she started leaving more, she would go on trips with her friends and leave me home alone. It was happening since I was eight, but I thought if I tried harder she would stay. And when you came, I loved you the moment I saw you, because I finally could understand that I wasn't different, I was like you, my dad."

Bella rested her elbows on her knees and rested her head in her hands. "When you came along, you were always there. You never left, and I saw you every day and you were always happy to see me. You were always proud of me, and I didn't have to try to make you happy. I didn't have to try with you. And I guess that scared me, and I somehow created the belief that if I pushed you away. If I did everything I could to make you hate me, then it wouldn't hurt when you left."

Bella laughed bitterly and looked at Luther. "But you didn't leave." She whispered, she stood and began to pace the room. "You didn't leave! Despite my attitude, my snarky remarks, and everything, you STAYED! And Renee left, I got angrier because you didn't leave and she did. She left despite all my efforts to make her happy, she left. I hated that I gave you every reason to leave, and you stayed. I don't hate you. I really don't, I love you just like I love Charlie, but it's hard because I'm scared that you're going to leave. I hate Renee, I can't love her anymore, she ruined my childhood and I put all that hatred onto you."

"I'm sorry." She said wiping at her eyes to stop the tears that spilled out of her eyes. "I'm sorry I ruined so many years. I'm sorry I pushed you away so much, because I don't want you to leave. I want you to stay, and I want you to continue to nag at me to be safe, and to reply to my snide comments with sarcasm. I don't want you to disappear one day."

"Maeva." Luther said approaching her and embracing her in a hug. He held her closer as she cried softly in to his shoulder. "Shhh… my little Maeva. I've always known you didn't hate me, I've just been waiting for you to realize it as well."

-Page Break-

Jeremy smiled as Bella walked into class during the middle of a history presentation. She hurriedly moved and took the seat beside him. "You doing okay?" He whispered.

Bella nodded, "Yeah, I'm good." She responded leaning back in her seat to listen to the lecture.

Jeremy doesn't ask her again how she is, he knows she'll say something when she's ready. Meanwhile, he would continue to make jokes to make her laugh and smile.

Jeremy smiled as Bella got into the car, "So what's the plan for this afternoon?"

"I have to start practicing for my audition during winter break." Bella said putting on the seatbelt. "There's two weeks left until we go on break."

"I should probably start putting together college applications." Jeremy responded as he drove out of the school parking lot.

"Do you have any idea what you want to study?" Bella questioned. "Or where you want to go?"

Jeremy shook his head, "I figured I'd apply to every school in the nation and see who accepts me and who doesn't."

Bella laughed, "That really sounds like a good plan."

"Are you just applying to Juilliard or are you applying anywhere else?" Jeremy questioned curiously. "I haven't heard you mention any other place."

"I'll apply to other music programs, but Juilliard is the main choice." Bella responded. "It's been my dream school since I was 13."

"Are you scared about your audition?" Jeremy asked.

"No. I'm not, I guess I just want to make sure I play at my best." Bella responded with a sigh.

Jeremy looked to Bella as she seemed a bit distracted. "Everything okay in that head of yours."

Bella smiled, "Yeah, just thinking. You told me to do that, remember?"

Jeremy parked the car. "I did. So, does it make you feel better?"

Bella nodded, "Yeah, it did. Thanks, for forcing me to do some thinking. I really needed it, especially after the dream."

"You want to talk about it?" Jeremy questioned.

"We were in the woods, looking for a body." Bella responded, "And we found one, it just wasn't the one we were initially looking for. I went to help stop the bleeding from the wound, and next thing I know there's a knife to my throat and I'm on the forest floor and I'm bleeding out."

"Do you know who did it?" Jeremy questioned, his fists turning white as they clenched the steering wheel.

"Carsile Cullen." Bella whispered. "I'm not sure why yet, but he was the one who slit my throat open. I'm also thinking that he was the one who stabbed Mike to use as a diversion."

"Why wouldn't he just bite him?" Jeremy questioned curiously. "Why go through all the extra trouble?"

Bella shrugged, "I'm not sure, but at the very least I'm now certain that I'm going to be staying away from the Cullen family." Bella got out of the car and turned to Jeremy. "I never thanked you."

"For what?" Jeremy questioned as he made his way around the car to Bella's side waiting for her to continue. "I don't remember doing anything worth thanking me for."

"Thank you for talking to me about Luther." Bella said. "You were right, and you helped me admit that I was wrong and by extension you helped me get my last power back."

"That was for a more selfish reason." Jeremy responded with a smile.

Bella sighed, "Jer…"

"I'm glad I helped you with your dad, because I knew it was hurting you. But I also just wanted you to know that I had no plans on leaving you." Jeremy responded with a smile. "See, purely selfish."

Bella laughed, "You're an idiot."

"Maybe." Jeremy responded with a shrug. "But I'm your idiot."

Bella nodded, her eyes going back to the dream she had. Her and Jeremy were together in a different sense than being friends.

"Hey, Bumble B." Jeremy said taking a step forward. "I'm going to kiss you…"

Bella smiled, "Yeah, it's about time."

Jeremy smiled and he leaned closer his lips slowly brushing against Bella's. In a second the kiss heated up, with his hand on her neck and her arms on his chest gripping his shirt.

Jeremy pulled back with a wide grin on his face. "Hey, bumble B, you want to be my girlfriend?"

Bella laughed, "Sure, why not?"


	6. Take On The World (Or At Least New York)

Author's Note

This chapter is probably one of my favorites. I'm really hoping you enjoy this chapter, and next update on Sunday? Definitely Sunday, maybe Saturday if I finish up all my papers for the week!

Tell me what you think, and I hope you enjoy!

-Page Break-

Bella finished putting away the last of her clothes in her suitcase. "Are you even packed?" She questioned over her shoulder at Jeremy. "Or have you been sketching all day?"

Jeremy only hummed in response as he finished up the sketch in question. He stopped as he felt Bella's arms around him and her head on his shoulder. "Did you say something?"

Bella smiled, "You're an idiot." She whispered with a laugh. "You've been drawing a lot more lately."

Jeremy smiled, "College applications. I'm applying for a few art scholarships, and this is needed along with a boring essay."

Bella smiled she leaned in closer and kissed his neck. "They're great."

"Thanks, B." Jeremy responded, he moved his head so he could properly kiss her. He moved and pulled her into his lap as the kiss grew stronger. Both pulled away as there was a knock on her bedroom door.

Bella smiled at the redness in Jeremy's cheek, she walked over to the door and opened it for her dad. "Hey, dad."

"I've got to get to work, and I know I won't see you before you leave." Charlie said. "You have to be safe."

Bella nodded and hugged her dad. "I'll be back shortly dad, as soon as my audition is over I'm coming back."

Charlie nodded, "I hope you're going to be safe, New York is a big place to be."

"I know dad, I'll be there for a day, I doubt I'll actually get into any sort of trouble." Bella said with a smile. "I'll call often, and leave messages when you're working. Trust me, I'll be fine."

Charlie turned to Jeremy. "You make sure she gets on that plane safely, son."

Jeremy nodded, "Got it, Chief. I'll wrap her up in bubble wrap just to be sure."

Bella smiled and turned back to her dad. "Come on, I'll walk you out and you can give me a speech about plane safety."

Jeremy waits as Bella comes back. "So, you're going to Florida and then New York?"

"Yeah, but I'm only going to Florida for a day, after that I'll be in New York for four days. Luther and some other corpses will be waiting for me in New York." Bella responded looking around her room to assure that she had all her things.

"There's not going to be any of them waiting for you in Florida?" Jeremy questioned. "Are you sure you're going to be okay by yourself?"

Bella nodded, "Yeah, I'm going to be fine. I'm not the only one able to teleport. There's another corpse, Rafael he can teleport too so if there's any problem he's capable of helping me." Bella moved and grabbed her cello case strapping it onto her back before grabbing her suitcase. "Come on, I'll go help you pack."

"How do you know I didn't already pack?" Jeremy said grabbing his sketchpad. He took Bella's suitcase from her hands before ushering her out of the door.

"Because you like to procrastinate." Bella looked over her shoulder with a smile. "Not to mention that when we were over at your house yesterday, all your clothes were still scattered all over the floor."

Jeremy smiled and watched as Bella locked up the house. "Okay, you might have a point. This was really all your fault. I had to spend the last week studying for our calculus final."

"You passed, so it all ended well." Bella responded with a smile, she leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

"Yeah, it did end well." He responded taking a hold of her hand in his as they walked over to his home.

"Hey lovebirds, you guys ready to go?" Alaric questioned curiously.

Bella smiled, "No, Jer hasn't packed yet."

"Better hurry, we have to get going soon if we want to get there on time for your flight Bella." Alaric said he took her suitcase from Jeremy. "I'll go put these in the car. You two can go pack, and don't fool around upstairs!"

"Real smooth, Ric!" Jeremy called back leading Bella back up the stairs.

"Your ears turn red when you're embarrassed." Bella said with a smile as she softly ran her fingers down Jeremy's ears.

Jeremy rolled his eyes, "You're coming back the day after Christmas, right?"

Bella nodded helping pack his things. "Yeah, I think I'll probably just spend the rest of break messing around with my gifts."

"I'm going to have to spend my break trying not to kill my sister and her boyfriends." Jeremy said with a sigh, he grabbed Bella's hand and tugged her towards him. He leaned down and kissed her, this kiss was slower, it was something he wanted to remember when he was away. He pulled back and pressed his forehead against hers. "I'm going to miss you."

Bella smiled. "I can teleport. Say the word, and I'll appear."

"You might regret that with how many times I call you." Jeremy responded with a smile.

"Seems worth it."

-Page Break-

Alaric watched as the young couple said goodbye to each other. Bella and Jeremy were embracing each other tightly, before Bella had to get on the flight. If Alaric didn't know any better he would think they were never going to see each other again. But I guess in Bella's situation that always seemed to be the case, because there was always someone after her and the future wasn't certain.

Bella pulled back from the hug as her flight was called again. "I have to get going. I'll see you soon, Jer."

"Just… Be safe, okay?" Jeremy said quietly he leaned down and kissed her. It was sweet and filled with the love he had for her. "Tell me if anything happens."

Bella smiled, "I'll be safe. I have a lot of people looking out for me, besides my first stop is a retirement community in Florida. Don't kill your sister, or anyone else for that matter, I don't want you to get hurt."

"I won't get hurt if you don't." Jeremy responded with a grin.

"Deal." Bella said she leaned up and kissed him shortly. "Bye, Ric!" Bella called out as she turned around and headed to get on her flight.

Alaric smiled as Jeremy came and sat down beside him, his face sullen. "You're so in love with her, it's sickingly sweet."

Jeremy laughed, "Yeah, I know. Can you do me a favor Ric?"

"Depends on what it is?" Alaric responded curiously. "You're going to make me stay quiet about Bella's gifts, aren't you?"

Jeremy nodded, "I know that if Elena finds out she'll drag me back to Mystic Falls, and I have a good life going on in Forks. I have a girlfriend, friends, a good GPA, my SAT scores are awesome and I think I can get into a good school. I don't want her to take that all away from me."

Alaric nodded, "I get it, and I won't say anything. I like Bella and I like who you are with her."

"I'm not that different with her, I'm still the same kid I was when I was in Mystic Falls." Jeremy responded with a sigh. "You act as if I've changed incredibly since I've met Bella and went to Forks."

"You did." Alaric responded with a smile. "Jeremy, you're more secure in yourself, you act like a teenager again, not like an adult stuck in a teen's body. I think Bella brought out that kid in you again, she makes you smile, crack jokes, and actually try when it comes to school."

Jeremy sighed leaning his head back, "I've applied to close to 15 universities already."

"Any place in specific?" Alaric questioned. "Like somewhere close to New York maybe?"

Jeremy laughed, "It's a possibility."

-Page Break-

Jeremy smiled, happy to see his sister again, despite the hunter in him. He set his bag down on the floor and gave his sister a hug. "It's good to see you, Elena."

Elena smiled, a little taken aback when Jeremy willingly hugged her. "It's good to see you, Jeremy." She stepped back from his embrace and moved to hug Alaric. "It's good to see you too, Ric."

Alaric smiled, "Thanks, it's good to be back home, Elena."

Elena nodded, "Come on, Damon is waiting outside." Elena took her brothers hand and led him away.

"So, how is your school life going?" Elena questioned as they were seated in the car. "Are your grades good?"

Jeremy nodded, "3.5 GPA this year, and school is really good. I have a lot of good friends, and I have a girlfriend."

Elena's eyes widened in surprise. "You have a girlfriend?"

"She's a really nice girl, Elena." Alaric called from the front of the vehicle with Damon.

Jeremy sighed pulling out his phone and showing his sister a photo of her. "Her name is Bella, she's the chief of police's daughter and she lives across the street from us."

Elena looked at the picture of the two of them, and although she couldn't see Bella's eyes, she could tell that they were probably as happy as Jeremy's seem to be. "How'd you meet her?"

"I accidently knocked her down on my way to the school office on my first day." Jeremy responded with a smile. "For some strange reason, she continued to be my friend despite the fact that I caused her to hurt herself."

"You know, you should start thinking about applying to colleges. I can get you an application to Whitemore." Elena offered as she sat back in the seat. "You'd like it there, they have a really nice art program."

Jeremy nodded, "I already started applying to schools, Bella's been helping me with my essays."

"Do you want to go to the same school as her?" Elena questioned curiously, by the look on her brother's face she knew he was a goner.

Jeremy smiled, "Are you kidding? I would never get into the school Bella's applying to, she plans on going to Juilliard. Bella's a prodigy in the cello, she has an audition in a few days. She's definitely going to get in, she's great at what she does."

Alaric laughed from the front seat, he leaned over to Damon. "It was love at first sight for him, he hasn't shut up about her since they met."

"I can hear you." Jeremy said with a roll of his eyes. "You're not exactly good at whispering."

-Page Break-

Jeremy lay in his bed, he was bored out of his mind at this moment. Alaric was with Damon and Elena was with Bonnie, and despite having no bad feelings towards Bonnie he knew hanging out with them would be awkward.

He reached for his phone quickly as it dinged and he got a message. He was more than excited that it was from Bella. He opened the message to see that Bella had sent him a picture. The strange thing was that Bella was supposed to be on a plane to New York.

In the picture, she was sitting in the uncomfortable airport chairs, and the text at the bottom said that she was ready to go to her hotel. He called her immediately, "Hey, why aren't you on a plane?"

Bella sighed over the phone. "Well, my flight had an emergency landing. I'm actually in Virginia right now, the airport is putting me up in a hotel for the night, and my replacement flight leaves tomorrow in the morning."

"You're here? In Virginia?" Jeremy questioned in excitement. "How far away are you?"

"Well, my taxi is about 10 minutes away from my hotel which is less than 15 minutes away from your hometown, or at least I think that's right." Bella responded quietly. "I don't want to bother you, Jer. You're supposed to be spending time with your sister."

Jeremy scoffed. "My sister is out doing something that is probably incredibly reckless with her friends. I have nothing to do, and I can't think of any better way to spend my day then with you. Just send me the address of your hotel, and I'll be outside waiting for you when you get there."

"Okay, I'll see you there, Jer." Bella said hanging up the phone.

Jeremy was out of his room in the blink of an eye. When he saw the name of the hotel he already knew where to go, and he couldn't have been more excited to be able to see Bella. He would be able to show her around town, and get to help her relax before her audition.

He was in the car and on the road in the blink of an eye. He drove excitedly to the hotel, and by the time he parked out front Bella was stepping inside. He hurriedly set out after her, when he saw her at the front desk line he couldn't stop himself as he approached her. The wide smile on his face showing his excitement at being able to see her again.

Bella gasped out in surprise as she felt the pair of arms wrap around her waist from behind. She turned her head and sighed in relief as she saw Jeremy standing behind her. "You got here rather quickly."

Jeremy nodded, "Yeah, I missed you." He leaned down slightly and kissed her. He pulled back at the cough interrupting her, he stood behind her keeping his arm around her waist as she checked into her hotel room.

Bella took Jeremy's hand and led him to the elevator. "I'm going to leave my bag in my room, and then you can show me your hometown."

Jeremy nodded, "Bring your cello, you can practice with me, I'll draw and you'll play."

"I'm not nervous." Bella responded with a smile as she looked at Jeremy. "As egotistical as it may sound, I feel good about my audition."

"Okay, whatever you say. Bumble B." Jeremy said moving back to kiss her as they waited for the elevator to stop at her floor.

Jeremy waited patiently as Bella set her bag down in her hotel room and called Luther and left him a message about her whereabouts. He excitedly took her hand and intertwined their fingers together before he took her cello case in his other hand and led them back to the elevator. "First off, let's go get something to eat."

-Page Break-

Bella smiled as Jeremy sat beside her, his feet were kicked up on the coffee table and he was drawing in his sketch pad while she played in the background. Every few minutes when she changed songs, he would complement her and kiss her sweetly before returning to his work. This was by far the best way to spend her winter break.

She took in a deep breath before she started to play again. Her hands moved elegantly against the cello, as she played the song that had been stuck in Jeremy's head lately, Don't let me down by The chainsmokers. She continued to play even as she felt his arms going around her waist and his head moving to rest on her shoulder.

"I'm going to have that song stuck in my head all week." Jeremy announced as soon as Bella had stopped playing. "But you were, as always, wonderful."

Bella smiled, she leaned closer to him and kissed him. Her hand went to his hair and she brought him closer. They pulled away as the sound of a cough at the door disturbed them. Bella couldn't help but turn her head to the ground as she wanted to laugh at Jeremy's face.

Bella stood setting her cello against the couch. "Hey, Rik."

Alaric smiled, "Hey, Bella. I thought you were supposed to be headed to New York by now?"

Bella shrugged, "Well, there was an emergency landing here in Virginia. The airport booked a hotel for me 15 minutes away, and Jeremy came to pick me up."

Jeremy stood beside Bella. "B, this is my sister Elena, and her best friend Bonnie." Jeremy looked to Bella with a smile before he turned back to his sister. "This is Bella, my girlfriend, and we were just leaving."

Bella laughed as Jeremy pulled her away. "Hey, my cello."

Jeremy sighed, "See, now we can't do a fast getaway. You're going to have to endure an interrogation by my sister. And that won't be a pleasant way to spend the rest of our day."

Bella rolled her eyes and went to her cello she placed it back in its case before turning towards Elena and Bonnie. "This was certainly an awkward way to meet." She looked to Alaric who only seemed to be filled with amusement by the situation.

-Page Break-

Bella smiled as Jeremy held her hand as they walked down the street. He had a boyish smile as he spoke about all the things he used to do in this town. Just as he went to lead her into the Mystic Grill, her phone rang, the familiar chime that signaled that Luther was calling her. "Hey, I have to take this, Luther is probably worried."

Jeremy nodded, "No problem, I'll grab you a hot chocolate to go. I'll be back soon."

"Hello." Bella said answering the call.

"I'm assuming you're safe, especially since I can conclude that you're with the boy." Luther said through the phone.

Bella laughed, "Yeah, I'm fine. Jeremy is just showing me around the town, my flight leaves early tomorrow morning so I should be there by the afternoon."

Luther hummed in response. "You could just teleport, there was no need to arrange flights."

"Yeah, that's what you say now, but I need this. I should blend in as an ordinary teenager, try not to raise suspicion. Here I thought you of all people would understand, I think you're losing your spark." Bella responded with a smile already in her voice.

"I was already aware of the positive reasoning behind you taking a plane, but I was just wondering if you were aware of them." Luther responded. "Have you begun to develop a new ability? I would have guessed a new one would have presented itself by now."

Bella sighed, "I don't feel anything, so I would say no. I think you have a point though, I do have the suspicion that one will just show up in time. I'll be in New York soon, and I can assure you that when you lecture me about being safe I'll listen."

Luther chuckled, "Good, I'll be waiting. Enjoy the time you have with Jeremy."

Bella smiled, "Thanks, dad." Bella said before hanging up the phone.

She went to head inside, but stopped at the familiar call of her name. She turned her head with a wide smile as she saw the familiar figure approach her. "Nik."

"Lovely little Isabella." Klaus said approaching, his smile wide as Bella gave him a hug. "It's a joy to see you, little one. I am curious to know what you're doing this far away from Phoenix."

Bella sighed, "Well, Renee left, so I moved in with Charlie in Washington. And I was on my way to New York for my audition, but my plane got landed for emergency reasons. I'm here spending some time with my boyfriend until I can catch a flight to New York tomorrow."

Klaus's smirk grew. "Boyfriend? Why, little one, I wasn't aware you even _liked_ other people. Last time we spoke your master plan was to get into Juilliard and ignore everyone who wasn't a corpse or myself."

"He's persistent." Bella replied with a shrug. "Besides, he was able to understand my supernatural capabilities without turning to run. By the way, thanks for the ring for Christmas." Bella said holding up her hand to show the tiny moon ring on her finger. "Simple, just the way I prefer it."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it." Klaus said he turned his head with curiosity as the door to the Grill opened and Jeremy stepped out. He caught Bella's scent all over him before he turned to Bella with a curious brow raised in question. "Really, Isabella?"

Bella crossed her arms over her chest. "Yes, and I do believe I made a wonderful choice. Afterall, you always said humans are weak, and Jeremy here isn't exactly human either. I think I won in the matter, besides, my judgement skills have never really failed me." She paused. "Renee is excluded from that."

Klaus laughed, "Of course, little one. Greet your father for me, I should be on my way." Klaus turned to walk away. "Oh, before I forget. Congratulations."

Bella furrowed her brows in confusion. "For what?"

"Your audition, I'm sure you'll be great." Klaus responded before disappearing.

Jeremy turned to Bella. "Please tell me that wasn't the Nik you said was just like an uncle to you."

Bella nodded, "Okay." She responded grabbing her drink and taking his hand in hers. "I won't tell you then."

-Page Break-

Bella approached her father and embraced him in a hug. "Hey, dad."

"It is lovely to see you, Maeva." Luther responded with a smile as he looked at his daughter. "Come, we should get you to the house. I'm sure the others are excited to see you."

"And how many people are waiting for me exactly?" Bella questioned curiously.

"8." Luther responded. "Vanessa is back from Spain, Rafael, Elizabeth, Mary-Beth, James, Ethan, and Victor."

Bella nodded her head. "I haven't met Victor."

"He's a nice young man, a doctor and very handy with any weapon. He's gifted with the ability of omnilinguism." Luther responded as he placed Bella's bag and cello case in the back of his car.

"He can speak different languages? That's all?" Bella responded buckling into her seat.

Luther smiled, "It's more than that, Maeva. Without any effort, Victor can understand any language in front of him, he can read it, translate it, speak it, and write it perfectly. It could take you and I years to truly master one language, it takes Victor mere seconds. Not to mention that he is a remarkable code cracker because of this gift."

Bella smiled, "So he can read hieroglyphs?"

"He's translated several of them, but he can't turn in his work as it would be suspicious." Luther responded with a grin. "You should see him when he watches The Minions movie, he'll translate their talk for you."

"I thought it was just gibberish." Bella responded with a laugh.

"Not to Victor." Luther responded with a smile.

Bella tapped her fingers against her knee as her father drove. She listened to him talk about the Volturi and their suspicious behavior, but she didn't want to pay attention. She didn't want to think about her current mortality.

"Are you nervous, my dear?" Luther questioned quietly.

Bella smiled, "No. I'm confident I will perform well in my audition, I know that my talent in the cello is remarkable."

"Congratulations for staying humble." Luther responded with a smile.

Bella laughed lightly. "I don't want to be nervous over something that I know will go well. I rather be nervous about other things, for example my impending death by the Volturi coven."

"They will not get near you." Luther vowed. "You will live until the end of your transition, Maeva, that I promise you."

"You shouldn't promise things you have no control over." Bella replied quietly. "I know how quickly the future can change, so I rather stay honest about my chance of survival. Though you have kept me alive so far, so you just might be able to keep your promise."

"I'm a man of my word, Maeva." Luther responded with a smile. "I'll worry about keeping you alive, you should worry about continuing to live your life to the best of your abilities."

-Page Break-

Bella walked between Vanessa and James, both were tasked with watching over her while she went to her audition. Her father was already waiting for her at the school, but to insure her safety both corpses had volunteered to walk with her to the school.

"Have you begun to get nervous, young one." James questioned his blonde hair slicked back and a pair of sunglasses keeping his blue eyes hidden from the world.

"Why would I?" Bella questioned in return with a smirk. "You shouldn't underestimate my playing ability, you'll find that I'm quite remarkable."

James chuckled, "I have no doubt in that. I would've loved to learn such an instrument when I was young."

"When I developed my elemental shifting, it was a pain in the ass, but at the very least I knew ahead of time how to control it. I can imagine that it would be difficult for you to have the same gift and not know how to control it." Bella responded with an apologetic smile. "I can always teach you."

"Thank you, young one, but I think musical genius is better left to you and not me." James responded. "You're going to be fine, you know."

"None of us will let anything happen to you Isabella." Vanessa responded with a warm smile. "We protect our own."

Bella smiled, "I know that. My worry is for my father, for my friends, for Jeremy. I could be putting them at risk. It's not always about me, you know, it can be about others as well."

Bella paused as they reached the school. "This is it. Let's get this done with."


	7. Heavy Soul

Author's Note

Sorry this is late! Though I do hope that you like it!

Tell me what you think, and I hope you enjoy!

-Page Break-

Jeremy reached for his phone again as he tried to get in contact with Bella. She had been ignoring his call since the night before, and he was beginning to wonder why. The only thing he had gotten from her all day was a text stating: I'm sorry. I can't talk right now, I'll call you soon.

He sighed as his call went straight to voicemail. He was leaving in a couple days, but that didn't mean he was any less bored and that he missed Bella any less. It was now that he began to see just how much she actually meant to him, and how much joy she brought to him. He looked up as he saw Elena standing at his door. "Hey." He said sitting up in his bed. "Something up?"

Elena smiled. "I just wanted to see if you wanted to hang out today. We can do whatever you want, I just want some one on one time with you before you leave."

Jeremy nodded and stood up, "Sure, I could use a bite to eat, so we can go get a burger or something."

Elena nodded she followed her brother down the steps and out the door. She waited until she was driving to talk to Jeremy. "So, you and Bella are really serious?"

Jeremy sighed, "Yeah, I guess you can say that. She's more than just my girlfriend, she's my best friend, I feel normal with her. It's a good feeling to have again, she makes things better and I feel like I can really talk to her."

"You don't think it's all moving too fast?" Elena questioned curiously. "I mean, you started dating her right after you broke up with Bonny."

Jeremy groaned running his hands over his face. "She told you about that?"

"She wanted to come clean, she felt that she was hiding a lot of secrets and she didn't want that anymore." Elena said quietly. "She still has feelings for you, Jeremy. I want you to know that before you get too attached to this girl. I can see that she's nice and clearly beautiful, but you also had a good thing going with Bonny."

Jeremy laughed bitterly at the thought of a good relationship with Bonny. "It wasn't a good relationship, it was toxic. She made me feel horrible because I wasn't good enough for her, I wasn't good enough for her to admit that we were together. I don't want this life, Elena. I don't want to live in Mystic Falls and go to Whitemore college, I want something else, I want something better. I want to finish school in Forks and go to whatever university I get into, and I want to build a life for myself. If Bella is in it, then that's a dream come true, but if she's not in my future it won't change anything. I love you, Elena, but you were right when you sent me to Forks. I don't belong here anymore."

Elena nodded, "I guess I should've known you would grow so independent."

"It was for the best, you were right, Mystic Falls wasn't healthy for me anymore." Jeremy responded, he gave his sister a wide smile. "Thank you for sending me away, because I found a life I really love."

Elena gave a small smile. "I'm happy for you, Jeremy, I just want to see you happy and if she makes you happy than that's all that matters to me."

-Page Break-

Bella took in a deep breath and closed her eyes, she let her mind drift into a focus state. Her hands hovered over the black fur, and she felt the familiar tingling sensation run down her arms and into her hands. She opened her eyes to see the wound healing itself slowly, too slowly for her liking. She fell back in exhaustion as it took a lot out of her to heal a small bite wound.

She reached forward and ran her hand through the black fur of the animal in front of her. "It's okay, Rosko, only three more to go and you're going to be okay. I'm going to go get some water and we'll get back to this."

Bella stood and hurriedly and headed down the stairs and quickly grabbed a water bottle from the fridge and drained the bottle before grabbing another one and heading back up the stairs. She entered her room and kneeled back down in front of the black wolf. Her new gift let her see his wounds, as if they were shining brightly before her eyes. In the beginning there were 24 wounds, and now she was down to only three small cuts left. The wolf in front of her had barely moved, and only whimpered from time to time, but now he seemed to be better and he wasn't in as much pain as before. Bella gently ran her hand through his fur to try and calm him. She couldn't help but give a small smile as he seemed to lean into her touch.

Bella reached for her phone to answer Luther's Call. "Hello."

"How are you doing?" Luther questioned concerned. "The last time we spoke you sounded exhausted."

"This gift is definitely a bigger hassle then the others." Bella responded quietly, knowing a loud tone of voice would startle the wolf. "It's taken me eight hours, 20 water bottles, three sandwiches, four apples and six yogurts to heal twenty wounds."

"I've contacted Andrew, and he has the same gift. He informed me that with time and practice things should get easier and you won't have to heal wounds one at a time." Luther responded. "I truly hope it gets easier for you to handle this, I don't want you exhausting yourself for these things."

"I wouldn't worry, there's only 3 wounds left and they're small, so it should be easier to handle. It's gotten easier then when I started, but I agree, it's going to take some practice to make this easier for me." Bella responded with a sigh. "I have to get going, Rosko is whimpering, the cut on his ear must be hurting."

"Just because you've named him doesn't mean you get to keep him, Maeva. He's a wild animal, and belongs in the wild." Luther responded, knowing his efforts were useless, she had named him and he had no doubt she was going to keep him. "Be safe. I don't want to see you hurt, and if you need anything Vanessa is staying in Seattle."

Bella smiled, "Thanks, dad, but I think I'll be fine."

-Page Break-

Jeremy woke up startled at the sound of his phone ringing. He reached over to his bedside table and answered it with a slight yawn. "Hello?"

"I'm sorry I woke you, but it's the only chance I've had to call you back." Bella said in a whisper. "Are you doing okay?"

Jeremy sat up with a slight smile. "Aren't I supposed to ask you that?"

"I'm sorry I haven't answered. A new gift decided to present itself and I've spent the last day working with it." Bella responded with a yawn. "It's a bit of a hassle to try and control it. So, if you could forgive me for ignoring you it would make my day a whole lot better."

"Can you teleport here? I'll forgive you quicker if you're here." Jeremy responded, he smiled as the phone went dead. He stood and locked the door to his room and as he turned around Bella was already sitting on his bed. "Stay the night?" He questioned, meeting her glowing red eyes in the dark.

Bella nodded. "I'm exhausted." She admitted as Jeremy got into the bed pulling her under the covers with him.

"Want to tell me about your gift?" Jeremy whispered.

"I can heal." Bella whispered. "It's a long story, but I've been healing this wolf for the last day and it's finally passed out from exhaustion after I healed it all up."

"Does this mean every time I get a papercut you'll kiss it and make it better?" Jeremy teased lightly.

Bella smiled. "You're an idiot." She leaned forward and kissed him, bringing him a little closer to her. "I missed you."

"It's a good thing you can teleport, I don't think a long distance relationship would work for us." Jeremy responded with a smirk. "I missed you too. It's not fun being here without you."

"Does this mean I'm forgiven." Bella responded reaching upwards to brush her hand through his hair.

"Definitely." Jeremy responded lightly kissed her lips. "Just so you know, your uncle Klaus has been glaring at me every time I see him."

Bella laughed, "Nik is family, and if you know anything about him, family comes above all else to him. He sees my dad as a brother or a father figure. I wouldn't worry, he won't do anything to you."

Jeremy smiled in the dark of the room and pulled Bella closer. "I'm glad you're here, Bumble B."

-Page Break-

Bella smiled as she walked through the woods with Rosko in front of her. She had expected the wolf to run into the woods as soon as she let him go and although he did run, he stopped at the edge of the trees and growled back at Bella. Once she had begun following after him he had turned back and walked into the woods. And that was how Bella had gotten here following after a wild wolf in the woods, and watching him sniff around the area.

Bella couldn't help but smile as the dog turned back around to face her. She paused her walking and sat down on the forest ground, with her back pressed against a tree. The wolf came towards her and sat down beside her before resting it's head on her lap. She had to admit the wolf was easily growing on her.

Bella leaned her head against the tree and softly ran her fingers through the wolf's fur. Jeremy would be home in the next few days which was a plus, but she felt something negative building in the pit of her stomach. Her dreams had been weird as of late, she kept seeing gold eyes and kept feeling the knife slash into her throat, and she knew that something was going to happen. She wanted to tell Luther about it, but she knew if she did he would have as many corpses as he could swarm Forks.

She knew that Carsile Cullen was behind her death, the only problem was that she couldn't understand why. She knew the Cullen's didn't know who she was, so they couldn't be after her for the Volturi. As far as she could remember she hadn't really done anything to provoke the Cullen's at school.

Bella sighed and stood up as Rosko stood as well. "Come on, let's go back, I'll give you some food and you can rest while I practice my cello." She rolled her eyes at herself, she was talking a wolf.

Bella walked slowly back to her home and sighed out in annoyance as she saw the woman leaning against the porch. "I'm fine."

"If you say so." Vanessa responded. "I'm not here to babysit you, Bella. I'm just here to serve as backup, and to make sure your dad doesn't drive himself crazy with worry."

Bella pushed her glasses up on her head pushing her hair out of her face. "I can't wait to be able to have my eyes back, I hate wearing sunglasses."

Vanessa smiled, "You want to get a bite to eat? My treat."

"You're going to be seen, and I don't want to have to explain who you are to people. No offense, but word travels fast in this town." Bella responded with a shrug. She rested her hand on Rosko's head, thumbing her fingers on his head.

"You keeping him?" Vanessa questioned eyeing the wolf.

Bella shrugged, "I tried to set him free, but he seems to like me. You want some coffee? I have cake if you're interested."

Vanessa smirked, "As long as it's chocolate. I don't have to watch my figure, so I can eat whatever I want."

"The joy of being immortal." Bella responded with a smirk. She had to admit, Vanessa wasn't as bad as she thought.

-Page Break-

Jeremy knocked on the Swan house front door, he couldn't help his grin at seeing Bella as she opened the door. He quickly wrapped her in a tight embrace, only letting her go at the sound of a large growl coming from behind Bella. "Please tell me you're not keeping a feral wolf as a pet."

Bella smiled, "He's not feral, and he's less than a year old, so he's teachable. I've already taught him to play fetch, he likes it." Bella reached forward petting it's head. "Don't you, Rosko."

Jeremy sighed, "You're going to end up liking him more than me." He added teasingly as he stepped inside the house.

"End up?" Bella questioned with a smirk. "I already like him more."

Jeremy smiled, "What does Charlie think of the new member of his home?"

"He made me take Rosko to the vet, at the sight of Rosko not being aggressive to the vet he let me keep him." Bella responded with a smile, she moved closer and kissed Jeremy slowly. They had done enough talking, and she really just wanted to kiss him again.

Jeremy pulled away at the sound of a snarl. "It seems he doesn't like sharing your attention."

Bella laughed and took Jeremy's hand leading him into the kitchen, "I was cooking just before you came."

"Your cooking was missed." Jeremy responded with a smile. "You were missed more." Jeremy pulled Bella back towards him and kissed her sweetly, before letting her go so she could cook once more.

"Why do you have a cut on your upper left arm?" Bella questioned as she looked over at Jeremy who sat on the counter beside her.

Jeremy shrugged. "Bad training with Ric."

Bella set down her knife and leaned over and placed her hand above Jeremy's wound. She smiled at him as the wounds were gone. "I hate to say this, but maybe you should get hurt more. I think this new gift works better on people."

Jeremy smiled, "I'll keep that in mind, but that felt a little weird. It kind of tickled…"

Bella rolled her eyes, "I don't think I was supposed to get this gift." Bella commented quietly a few minutes later.

Jeremy shifted slightly. "Why do you say that?"

"In my dream, about dying, I found Mike dying, but I didn't move to heal him. I had another dream, that night I spent with you, I had this dream. It was like the one I had before, we went into the woods, but this time there was no Mike. We were walking in a different path, away from where Mike would be, but before I could really get anything I woke up. I think developing this ability changed the path of time." Bella said she turned to Jeremy with wide eyes.

"Hey." Jeremy said jumping off the counter and moving quickly to wrap Bella up in his arms. "You're going to live, and we can figure out what's next. We're both smart, well, you're a little smarter, so I do think we can figure this out."

Bella smiled into Jeremy's shirt. "You may be right."

-Page Break-

Bella laid down on her bed, Rosko was at her feet and her eyes were starting to bat closed. A part of her didn't want to sleep, she feared what was in her dreams. She wanted to believe that everything was going to be okay, but a part of her knew that something was wrong.

 _Bella opened her eyes and looked around the forest. Her body stepped forward and she looked around. "Jer, really, now that we know how I die, we can still go the same path, we just have to be careful."_

 _Jeremy smiled, "Better safe than sorry. I don't want you getting hurt, Bumble B." He leaned forward and kissed her head. "Come on, we'll go this way and make a circle to come back out. Then we can get Ric and Vanessa together so we can all come up with a battle strategy."_

" _Battle strategy makes it seem a lot more drastic than needed." Bella said looking around the forest carefully as she walked. She turned to Jeremy and smiled as he was obviously being as careful as she was._

 _Jeremy looked over at Bella, he paused his walking and reached out for her tugging her closer. He wrapped his arm around her waist and leaned down to kiss her. He kept her close as he pulled back from the kiss. His forehead resting against her own, "I love you." He whispered quietly._

 _Bella felt her heart thumping in her chest, and as she went to respond she felt Jeremy being tugged away from her, while she was being thrown backwards. Her mind moved quickly as she used her fire ability to burn whomever had thrown her away from Jeremy. She ignored their scream of agony to move towards Jeremy, she stood frozen to see Edward's hand go into Jeremy's chest._

 _Bella screamed and with her gift pushed Edward off of Jeremy. She crouched over Jeremy and put her hands over his chest hoping above anything that she could do something to save him. She looked at Jeremy as he put one of his hands over hers. "Jer…"_

 _Jeremy gave a weak smile. "I love you."_

 _Bella nodded her head, she leaned down and kissed him gently. "I love you." She whispered she closed her eyes as she could feel him leave her. She could feel her eyes already filling with tears knowing that he was no longer with her._

Bella gasped and sat up instantly as she woke. She felt her cheeks to see she was indeed crying. She brought her knees to her chest and cried quietly. She had always been able to tolerate watching her own death, she had seen it dozens of times before, but seeing someone she loved die was an entirely new experience. Bella wasn't sure she could ever go to sleep again. She didn't want to know the future anymore, she wanted to be oblivious, she didn't want to see him die ever again.


	8. Can't Hold Back

Author's Note

Sorry I left you on kind of a cliff hanger… Oops

Tell me what you think, and I hope you enjoy!

-Page Break-

Jeremy knocked on the Swan house front door, but was stunned when there was no answer. Bella was usually fast to open the door, that or he would hear her shout to him. He reached for his phone to see Bella had sent him a text just seconds after he knocked on the door.

With Luther. Can't see you right now, sorry.

Jeremy sighed and turned around, he felt something was wrong in the pit of his stomach, but he'd give Bella the benefit of the doubt. He responded quickly before crossing the street to head back to his home.

Jeremy entered his home, but paused as he could hear Bella playing her cello. If she was home, why wouldn't she talk to him? Jeremy looked at Bella's home from the window and questioned if he should go back or not. He decided against it, he would give Bella the space she obviously wanted.

He went up to his room and sat on his bed, grabbing his sketch pad and decided he'd waste some time before he texted Bella again to see how she was doing.

Bella set her cello to the side as she just wasn't feeling the music anymore. Her eyes were swollen from the hours of crying she had done the night before. She was beginning to feel the effect of a sleepless night, and she refused to get any amount of sleep if it meant having to watch Jeremy die all over again.

Bella looked down as Rosko rested his head on her knee. "Why don't we go for a run in the woods, Rosko?" Bella stood up, she needed to get out of the house before her mind drove her crazy. She needed to escape the sight of the death of someone she loved.

Bella headed straight into the woods with Rosko at her side, no direction in mind just the need to keep going. Once they were in the cover of the trees Bella took off running, she didn't focus on anything but the sound of her feet hitting the ground and the beat of her heart pounding in her chest.

Bella stood from her spot on the broken tree branch and looked up at the sky. Had she been sitting on that tree branch for so long? Since when had it gotten so dark out? She looked around taking in her surroundings and realizing she didn't really know where she was.

"Where the hell are we, Rosko?" She looked at the wolf who didn't seem to care about her question. She reached down and wrapped one arm around the wolf before the two of them teleported back to the house.

Now in her room, Bella let Rosko lay on her bed while she headed into the bathroom to shower. She could hear the sound of Charlie watching T.V. in the living room, and the smell of a pizza he most likely ordered for dinner. At least she wouldn't have to explain swollen eyes to her dad anymore.

-Page Break-

Jeremy looked down at his phone as it rang with a message notification, he was more than surprised that Bella had answered his text questioning her well-being.

I'm fine.

Jeremy let out a sigh as a one word response didn't really seem like Bella. He set down his phone and rubbed his hands down his face in distress. He wasn't sure if this was Bella's way of pushing him away, but he sure as hell wasn't going to let her push him away. He stood grabbing his phone and his coat, before he hurriedly left the house and headed over to Bella's home. He knew that at this point Charlie was already sleeping, and he didn't want to get on the Chief's bad side for knocking on his front door so late in the night.

He went over to the tree outside of Bella's window and easily climbed up to her window. He was relieved as the window was left unlocked and he easily pushed it open before climbing into the room. He ignored the growl of the wolf, instead meeting Bella's eyes to see that she had recently been crying.

"Jer, what are you doing here?" Bella whispered as she sat up on the bed, wiping her face to hide the evidence that she had been crying.

"You were ignoring me." Jeremy said simply. "I was scared that you were pushing me away, I'm worried about you, B."

Bella sighed, "I'm fine, just a bad dream."

Jeremy nodded, "Okay. Want to tell me about it? I want to help you, you just have to let me."

Bella sighed and looked down at her hands. "I've had this new vision, were I don't die."

Jeremy took a step forward approaching the bed slowly. "That's a good thing, B."

Bella shook her head. "It's not." She assured staring up at him, her red eyes glowing brightly at him. "I've had this vision three times, and I can't figure out how to change it. The first time was last night, and then again this morning just before you came over, and a few minutes ago. I can't seem to escape it, and it's scaring me."

Jeremy sat down on the bed beside Bella. "What happens in the dream?"

"We're in the woods, and I'm attacked by Carsile and you're attacked by Edward. By the time, I get to you Edward has killed you and I have to watch you die." Bella responded in a low whisper. "I don't know what to do to change it. I don't know how to save you, Jer, and I don't want to lose you."

Jeremy nodded, "I can't say I'm happy to know that I die, but I am happy you're not dying. You don't have to figure out how to save me on your own, B, I'm not a genuis, but I'm more than capable of helping you out."

Bella sighed, "I don't want to go to sleep, I don't want to see that vision again."

Jeremy nodded, "Okay." He said taking off his shoes and joining Bella on the bed and wrapping his arm around her. "What if I go to sleep, and you use your power to go into my dream, you won't see the vision anymore, and you can show me your gift first hand."

Bella nodded, "Thanks for coming, Jer."

Jeremy smiled as Bella was already falling asleep in his arms. He shifted them around a little and got comfortable with Bella in his arms.

-Page Break-

"It's a new semester, Jer." Bella said stepping out of his car and to the parking lot of the school. "It was a sure thing we wouldn't have _all_ our classes together. I think you should be happy we still have the _majority_ of our classes together."

"Can you imagine how annoying it will be if I have any classes with Jessica and Lauren and I have to sit next to them alone?" Jeremy exclaimed with an affronted look. He smiled as Bella laughed at him, he placed his arm around her shoulders and walked with her into the school. "I can't believe you decided to take music class on your last semester."

Bella smiled, "I didn't _decide_ to take it, the principal called my dad and said that the school needed its best students in their new program to help build it and make it popular for other students. My dad asked me to do it for the sake of his sanity as the principal or his wife kept calling or showing up at his work."

Jeremy smiled, he leaned in and kissed Bella's temple. "You're going to make every other member seem pathetic."

Bella rolled her eyes at him but kept a small smile on her face. "You can't see it, but I'm rolling my eyes at you."

"I could tell." Jeremy responded with a smirk. "Happy first day to our last semester." He whispered to Bella as they were both approached by their friends.

Bella smiled and leaned against Jeremy, she wasn't sure how he did it, but he always made her feel better. The last few days had been hard for her and for Jeremy, but they were slowly starting to figure out a plan to insure that Jeremy would be alive.

"I heard you're going into the new music program, Bella." Angela said quietly between all the chatter .

"Yes, Principal Greene thought it would be a good idea for me to be one of the first to join." Bella responded.

"That's great, I heard that he also managed to convince Edward Cullen to join. Apparently, he's very good on the piano." Angela added with a smile. "Maybe the two of you together could play at prom, because our budget was blown for the winter formal."

Bella fidgeted slightly. "Maybe." She responded trying to hide how uncomfortable she was with the mention of Edward.

-Page Break –

Bella smiled as Jeremy kissed her, her hand went around his neck to hold him closer as their kiss grew a little stronger. "I have to get to class." She whispered pulling away from their kiss. "I'll see you in an hour."

Jeremy sighed, "Fine. Be safe." He responded watching her head into the classroom, her cello case in hand. He turned around and headed to his last class of the day, ready to go home to try and figure out a way for him not to die.

Bella took in a deep breath and set up her cello at a corner of the room. There were only three people in the class, one of course was the teacher, and the other was Edward. She had really hoped there would be more people in this group. She avoided Edward's gaze as the teacher spoke, they were both instructed to play twinkle little star. Something Bella saw as ridiculous, if she was considered one of the best musicians in the school why would she have to play a song so simplistic.

"No offense, but I haven't played something so simple since before elementary. If you want to see my skill give me something harder to do, don't give me something meant for amateurs." Bella said preparing her cello. "I don't mean to seem vain, but that was the worst suggestion for someone who has tried vigorously to perfect their talent"

"Alright, Mrs. Swan." The female teacher said crossing her arms over her chest, a smug smirk on her face. "If you think you're so talented, why don't you play prokofiev sinfonia concertante. That is, if you know how to play it."

Bella smirked and prepared her cello. She took in a deep breath and began to play the song with ease, it was the one she played in the fifth grade, it had won her the state competition that year. Bella stopped playing after ten minutes, and with a smug smirk she said, "Was that satisfactory to you? The judges thought so when I won a competition for it when I was in 5th grade."

The teacher sighed, "Alright, I'm Mrs. Robinson, I'm a music teacher in Seattle. It seems Miss Swan is more than capable on her instrument, how about you Mr. Cullen? Do you mind giving us a show of your talent?"

Edward gave a warm smile. "Of course,." He responded before he ran his fingers over the keys gently before beginning to play one of his favored songs.

Bella hated to admit it, but he was a great piano player, that didn't change the fact that she absolutely hated him. She ignored his gaze as he finished and focused on the teacher who seemed enchanted with Edward's music. Mrs. Robinson was more than excited to showcase both of their talents in the upcoming assembly next week. It was clear she had thought both students were amateurs and would need more time, but now she was more than exited to have them do some sort of performance.

Bella listened as the teacher began to ramble ideas of popular songs the two of them could play together. She could feel the gaze of Edward on her as the teacher spoke, but as much as she wanted to yell at him to look away she kept quiet. As soon as the bell rang she put her cello away in her case before grabbing her backpack and her case to head out.

"I can help you with that." Edward said approaching Bella as she exited the classroom.

"I can carry it on my own." Bella responded before moving forward to walk towards the parking lot.

"I think we got off on the wrong foot last semester." Edward said keeping up to her pace. "I'm Edward Cullen, and it seems we're going to be working together in this class."

Bella nodded, "I'm aware." She couldn't help but smile as she saw Jeremy from the corner of her eye. He approached her quickly and kissed her cheek as he took her cello case from her hand. "Goodbye, Edward." Bella said as she took Jeremy's hand and walked away.

"He's so creepy." Jeremy whispered as they approached his car. He looked over his shoulder to see that Edward was by his car on the other side of the parking lot and was intently staring at the two of them. "And he's still staring at you."

Bella sighed, "Let's just get out of here. How was study hall?"

Jeremy sighed, "I was between Jessica and Lauren all of class. They kept going on and on about Mike and Tyler. Apparently, Mike is thinking of asking some underclassman to the spring fling, and Jessica is not having any of that. Oh, and Eric is going to try and get back together with Angela, apparently he misses her, but he's not aware that Ben and Angela are already together. It's all very dramatic."

Bella laughed, "It's obvious you weren't paying attention to their gossip."

"It's hard not to, they talk really loudly and I get bored." Jeremy responded placing Bella's cello in the back of his car. "So, what's the plan for today."

"I've decided to finally relent, and call Vanessa and have her come down here to help me develop some sort of plan." Bella responded quietly.

Jeremy froze slightly. "Really? Can I meet her?"

Bella rolled her eyes. "I sort of need you there, the entire point is to help keep you alive."

"Great!" Jeremy said happily getting into the vehicle. "So, what's her gift?"

Bella smiled, "Vanessa has wings, she can fly. Her gift was the only gift I've ever really wanted to have."

"Like bat wings or you know ones with feathers?" Jeremy questioned curiously.

Bella laughed, "Feathers, they're brown and white. They're gigantic, and amazing to see."

"But don't they make her stand out? Wouldn't someone spot her flying around?" Jeremy questioned in confusion. "That has to be obvious."

Bella smiled, "At first, but once Vanessa got control over them she could go invisible when flying. All gifts take time to master, and once they're mastered you can do beautiful things with them."

"So, every gift you have someone else has too?" Jeremy questioned as he drove.

"Not my dreaming ability, that one is my own, all the others someone else has them too." Bella responded. "Because someone else has my other gifts, that's how I know how to master them so quickly, I can learn from their experience."

"So, who has the healing ability?" Jeremy questioned.

"His name is Andrew." Bella responded. "He's one of the nicest people according to my father, he travels to poverty stricken areas and works as a doctor were he heals people in need for no charge."

Jeremy pulled into the Swan house. "I'm going to be fine, bumble B." Jeremy said reaching over to take Bella's hand in his. "I've died before, and I'm still here, I'll be fine."

Bella smiled thankfully. "I don't like seeing people I care about die."

-Page Break-

Bella watched curiously as Jeremy introduced Vanessa to Alaric. She could practically see both their eyes turn into hearts as they spoke quietly to each other. She smiled as Jeremy slowly backed away from the two as they talked animatedly with each other.

"I thought they were supposed to help us, not flirt with each other." Jeremy said as he stood beside Bella and watched the two.

"You put two equally interesting and lonely people together and you get a match made in heaven." Bella responded quietly. "Come on, let's give them some space and lets go to my house."

Jeremy wrapped his arm around her waist as they headed outside. "We're going to be okay. I'm sure there's an easy solution to avoid my death. What we should talk about is the realization that the reason I might die is because Edward Cullen has a crush on you."

Bella sighed, "You can't tell, but I'm rolling my eyes at you."

Jeremy smiled he paused their walking and turned Bella around so she could face him. "I can tell." He responded easily. "I can also tell that you're scared, and I know that feeling because I was scared when you were the one that was going to die. We're going to be fine, bumble B. I know that for a fact, because we're both stubborn and we're both going to do whatever's possible to make sure that the other lives."

Jeremy leaned down and kissed her, his hands tightening around her waist to keep her closely pressed against him. He pulled away for a moment and pressed his forehead against her own. "How about we forget about your dreams for the day, and spend the rest of the evening doing regular teenage things?"

Bella smiled, "Is this your clever way to see if I'm willing to rebel against my fathers and let you sleep with me?"

Jeremy laughed lightly. "You caught me."

"Alright, let's go then." Bella said turning and taking Jeremy's hand in hers before she walked towards her home.

Jeremy chuckled as he followed after. "You're my favorite person, B."

-Page Break-

Bella took in a deep breath and looked up at Jeremy from her spot on his chest. He was sound asleep, but she couldn't bring herself to close her eyes. She moved slightly upward and kissed his cheek before she rested her head back on his chest and closed her eyes.

Bella opened her eyes to the sight of being once again in the forest. Her heart dropped as she knew she was back in her own personal hell.

 _She hated the feeling of not being able to change any of the events in this vision. Her eyes watered with tears as she pressed her hands up against Jeremy's chest to heal him. Her eyes widened as it started to work and his wound was healing, but not fast enough._

Bella woke up and gasped, her hand resting on Jeremy's chest as she startled him awake.

"Hey, bumble B." Jeremy said sitting up in the bed. "Bad vision again?"

Bella shook her head. "No. I was interpreting it wrong, I didn't need to figure out how to prevent you from dying, I needed to figure out how to heal you." She leaned forward and kissed his lips lightly. "I'll see you in the morning. Have a good sleep."

Before Jeremy could respond Bella was gone. He fell back into his bed and groaned. "Teleportation."

Bella appeared in front of her father slightly startling him. "I need Andrew's location, it's about perfecting my gift."

Luther smiled, "Of course, I do hope your boyfriend will end up being alright."

Bella sighed, "How do you know that?"

"I spoke with Vanessa, and before you questioned my morals, I didn't have to use my gift on her. She let it slip before continuing to talk about a man named Alaric, she seems to be infatuated with him." Luther said he reached over to his phone and searched it before turning back to Bella. "I have sent you his coordinates, Maeva, but be safe, he's in Rome and that is too close to the Volturi for my liking."

Bella nodded, "I'll be fine." She smiled, "I thought you'd be happy, you're always going on about practicing my gifts. I'll call you tomorrow, dad." She said before disappearing. She finally had a plan that seemed moderately successful. She needed to practice her gift, and who better to learn from then the person whom has already mastered the gift.


	9. Night People

Author's Note

Sorry it's late!

Tell me what you think, and I hope you enjoy!

-Page Break-

Bella approaches the tan skinned man with caution. "Hello, Andrew."

"Maeva!" Andrew responded facing her with a wide grin on her face. "It is lovely to see you in person!"

Bella smiled, "It's a pleasure to meet you as well, my father talks highly of you."

"Yes, well each time I speak to your father you're all he ever talks about. In fact, he sends all of us your yearbook picture every year." Andrew responded pulling his long hair away from his face and tying it up. "It's why we all feel as if we know you before we even meet you."

Bella smiled, "That sounds like him, I came here for a reason, Andrew, something I hope you will be able to help me with."

Andrew smiled, "You need help with your most recent gift. I figured, it can be difficult to go from only healing one wound at a time to healing the entire body in seconds. It's all a matter of practice, come, we can start now, I have to be at the school today and you can help me with the smaller children."

Bella nodded and followed him. "Thank you." She whispered as she was relieved there would be a way to stop Jeremy from dying.

"Who is it you want to save?" Andrew questioned as they walked.

"He's someone I love." Bella responded with a smile. "I don't want him to die, especially if there is some way I can save him."

"I know the feeling, I hope you learn how to save him." Andrew said with a sincere smile. "It's a tragedy to lose someone you're in love with, especially for our kind."

"Have you gone through it?" Bella questioned quietly.

"I have. We all have, it's like a rite of passage." Andrew responded. "I hope you don't have to go through this, and that this boy you're with lives as long as you do."

"Are you hinting at that I should turn him if I can?" Bella responded curiously.

"Love is something beautiful, Maeva, and I've learned through my time that real love is timeless. You may be young, but you are wise beyond your age, the only thing to make love last is the want and need for it to last." Andrew responded with a simple smile. "You should meet Eric and Julia, they've been together for close to 4 centuries."

"I remember my father mentioned them, the last he heard from them they were in underground Paris, doing something with the catacombs." Bella responded amused. "Apparently, they're both very adventurous."

Andrew laughed, "Oh my dear, Eric is not adventurous, but he does love his wife, and Julia has the need for adventure. You should know by now that someone truly in love will do anything for their significant other."

Bella paused as Andrew stopped in front of what seemed like a hut. She quietly followed in after him and saw that the small hut like area was filled with children. "They're all sick?"

Andrew nodded, "Unfortunately, yes. Many of them are orphans, so they're not properly cared for. To hide suspicion, I don't heal them all at once, but I do insure that they're safe and no longer in pain. We're going to start with some of the more healthier children, you'll finish my work, and we'll start working from there. Hopefully, we'll get to the point where you can begin to heal everything with just a touch."

-Page Break-

Jeremy crossed his arms over his chest as he waited for Bella to come down stairs. "Want to explain what happened last night?" He shouted from the kitchen where he had just given Rosko a piece of chicken from the fridge.

"I figured out that I needed to master healing to keep you alive." Bella said coming down the stairs slowly, she yawned before she continued. "So, I went to see Andrew, and he's agreed to help me master my gift. Hopefully I'll get the hang of it in time."

"Did you even sleep last night? You look exhausted." Jeremy said approaching her, he cupped her cheek so she could face him. "You sure you can go to school today?"

Bella smiled and nodded, "Yes, I'm okay, in fact I'm pretty wonderful today."

Jeremy matched her smile and leaned in to give her a small kiss. "You shouldn't stress yourself out."

"I'm fine, Jer." She responded, "I just have a new hobby for now." She grabbed her glasses from his hands and placed them on. "Come on, let's get going."

Jeremy smiled, "So you're going to be leaving each night to do some training? Are you sure you can handle that?"

"I'll be fine, I might just need to nap a little between classes." Bella responded with smirk. "Don't worry, Jer, I'll be fine."

Jeremy wrapped his arm around her waist and walked with her to his car. "I just worry over you, Bumble B."

"I know, and it's an endearing trait." Bella responded with a small smile. "Trust me, Jer, I'm going to be okay."

Jeremy nodded and leaned down to peck her lips in a chaste kiss. "I just don't want to see you hurt, but for now I'll let you be."

"Come on, I can tell you all about how much I hate the music teacher, and ask you to switch into music class to make it less awkward for me." Bella responded.

Jeremy smiled, "Unlike you, I don't have any musical talent so I think I'd be kicked out of that class, but I'll be there as the bell rings so you don't have any awkward alone moments with the Cullen psychotic."

"Thanks, Jer." Bella responded as he opened the door to his car for her.

"So, tell me about what you did last night?" Jeremy asked as he began to drive to the school.

"Andrew has been working with children, so he started teaching me how to better control my healing ability through practice with them. He told me that it took him awhile to control his gift because he was never sure what mastering it would be. He thinks it will be easier for me because I have someone to learn from. Yesterday, there was this baby and he had this horrific infection, and with Andrew's help I healed him. His skin was all better and Andrew thinks he'll get adopted soon." Bella replied with a wide smile. "He was a beautiful baby boy, his parents left him because of his skin condition."

"Do you feel better doing this sort of training?" Jeremy questioned curiously.

"I do." Bella said with a nod of her head. "I think I feel stronger knowing that Andrew can help me get control over my gift. When I developed my elemental shifting, I got help from James to master it and I mastered it rather quickly. I think with Andrew's help I can master this gift soon, I think I'll be able to save you, Jer."

"You shouldn't worry over me, B. I told you before, I died and I still lived, I'll figure out how to do it again." Jeremy responded reaching over to take Bella's hand in his. "Everything's going to be fine."

"I know, Jer. Look, why don't we just put this in the back of our minds and try to seem like normal teenagers." Bella said with a smirk. "You know, gossip and what not with the rest of our class."

Jeremy laughed happily as he parked the car. "Sure, that sounds pretty great."

-Page Break-

Bella leaned back in her chair as the teacher went over the sheets of music they were to play at the next assembly. It was a mashup of several different songs, and they were supposed to learn the songs and harmonize together by the next week. She had no problem with this, it was the hinting from the teacher about staying after school with Edward to practice that was getting to her.

"Let's start today off with some Taylor swift, and we'll start working our way through the rest of the music." Ms. Robinson announced standing behind her podium.

Bella took in a deep breath and began to play, she played along to the song, ignoring the gaze from Edward that she could feel as she played. She paused at the instruction of Ms. Robinson, turning to look at her as she began to criticize them both, but to Bella's annoyance she was criticized more.

"You need to seem more appealing as you play, Isabella." Ms. Robinson said crossing her arms over her chest. "Why don't you take off those tacky sunglasses, we are in doors after all there's no need for them."

"These aren't _**tacky**_ they're necessary for my health. And according to my awards, I'm plenty appealing when I play. If you haven't realized I don't wear these glasses to seem cool, I wear them because I have a severe eye condition that makes it impossible for me to have sunlight reach my eyes." Bella responded. "Now, if you're done being so judgmental we really should get back to playing music. Afterall that is what this club was made for."

Ms. Robinson crossed her arms over chest ad glared at Bella. "From the top, again."

Bella smirked and began to play again. Her hands moved easily as she played, she hated to admit it but Edward was a good pianist. She played until they had made it through the entire music set a couple of times. Bella looked towards the teacher, just waiting for her to say something negative, she couldn't help the smirk that formed on her face as the negativity began.

"We're going to need a lot of practice. Bella, you and Edward should really think about staying a little later to practice more. In fact, I've already asked Principal Greene and he's agreed to leave the music room open for the two of you an hour after school each day until the assembly." Ms. Robinson said grabbing her bag as the bell rang. "So, you'll be staying late."

Bella glared at her but knew it was useless as the teacher couldn't see that behind the glasses. She stood up and packed her cello into her car. "I can't stay after today, but tomorrow should be fine."

"That sounds good, Bella." Edward said standing and following her outside. "If you would like I'm able to drive you home afterwards."

"No, it's fine." Bella assured, she smiled as Jeremy appeared.

"Everything go well, B?" Jeremy said looking over to Edward. "Hey, man."

Bella laughed lightly. "Apparently, we need more practice. We have to stay after school to practice for an extra hour from now on."

Jeremy nodded, "Cool, I'll just wait for you."

"You don't have to." Edward interrupted. "I can drive her home after our practice."

Jeremy smiled placing his arm around Bella's waist. "I like hearing her play, so it's not really any problem. I'll just bring my sketchbook along, I like drawing as she plays."

Bella smiled widely. "Goodbye, Edward."

Jeremy walked off to the car with Bella once inside he laughed lightly. "Yeah, that guy is infatuated with you."

Bella rolled her eyes. "You're an idiot." She smiled at him. "He's creepy, and a suck up to the music teacher, which, by the way, hates me."

"You sure you're not overreacting, B?" Jeremy questioned with a smirk.

"Jer, she hates me. I know it may sound cocky and vain to most, but I know that I am a remarkable cello player, and she's suggesting that I need more work in my art." Bella said with a frown.

Jeremy laughed, "The audacity!" Jeremy said with a smirk. "They should just fire her right away. You're amazing, Bella, she's probably just jealous that Edward isn't attracted to her like almost every other teenage boy at our school. It was probably a blow to the ego."

Bella laughed, "Thanks for that pick me up, Jer."

-Page Break-

Bella entered Jeremy's home and smiled at Alaric and Vanessa who were gathered together in the kitchen. She let them be as she headed up the stairs with Rosko at her side. "Hey, Jer." She said entering the room with a smile.

Jeremy stood and smiled. "Bumble B." He said in surprise. "I thought you would have already left to go join Andrew."

"I'm just about to leave." Bella said quietly. "But I don't want to leave Rosko alone at the house, he whines when he's stuck in my room by himself. I was hoping you would be nice enough to watch him for me until I get back."

Jeremy grinned, "Sure, B, but if he eats me alive it'll be your fault."

Bella looked to Rosko who had already made himself comfortable on Jeremy's bed. "I think he's warmed up to you. I'll see you later, but hopefully you'll be asleep by then."

"I'll stay up for you." Jeremy assured, he pulled Bella to him and kissed her before she had the chance to disappear. "I'll be here for you."

Bella smiled, "Thanks, Jer. I'll see you later." She kissed his cheek before she disappeared into thin air.

Jeremy turned back to the wolf on his bed. "Well, I guess you and I are in for a long night, bud." Jeremy moved towards his bed. "Let's watch a movie together, see if we can do some bonding or whatever."

Bella appeared in front of Andrew as he gathered together his unneeded medical bag. "I knew Rafeal when he first got this gift, he would make it a point to sneak up on us at all times. I'm glad that he's matured somewhat and no longer does that to us, and I'm thankful you don't feel the need to scare others as a form of entertainment."

Bella smiled, "If I scare someone it usually isn't on purpose, and Rafeal hasn't matured too much, the first thing he ever told me about teleportation was the best way to hide to scare someone."

Andrew laughed and Bella noticed that he was truly a happy man as his laughter always reached his eyes. "Come my dear, we have much work to do today. There was an accident with one of the buses and several children have been injured, it is now our job to help them get better."

Bella followed him. "What happened?"

"The driver had a seizure at the wheel and crashed into a tree. He died on impact as he wasn't wearing his seatbelt, and many of the children on board received head injuries. Due to the lack of funds not many were able to go to the hospital after the accident, and from what I've gathered many have fallen into comas." He turned to Bella with a sad smile. "These are the hardest to heal, and as sad as it may be, it is a wonderful learning opportunity for you."

-Page Break-

Jeremy followed the black wolf, he found it a bit hard to keep up with the wolf as in the darkness of the night the wolf blended in perfectly. He paused as the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, and his hunter senses were on overdrive. He turned his head to stare into the darkness of the woods, his hand reached into the secret pocket of his jacket and slowly he reached for his gun. He pulled it out, and without hesitation he held it in front of him as he still looked over his shoulder and fired.

He turned his head as he was right and there were two following him. One was coming from in front while the other tried to distract him. He noticed as Rosko came to his side, his teeth barred as he growled at the man approaching him from the back.

"Lower your weapon, Jeremy, we're not here to kill you. We came for a visit." Klaus said reaching to the wound at the nape of his neck and pulling out the bullet covered in vervain that was lodged there. "Has your aim worsened since you moved? Or were you purposely trying to miss my heart?"

Jeremy kept his eye on the man that moved from behind him to stand beside Klaus. "Bella said that one of the vampire covens that was after her each member had a symbol on their neck. I aimed there purposely, it would give me the chance to see if the tattoo was in fact there."

"I'm impressed Mister Gilbert." The other man spoke reaching into his coat to hand Klaus a handkerchief. "It's quite impressive to hit an opponent without seeing them. I'm being rude, I'm Luther, Maeva's father."

Jeremy sighed and put his gun away, moving to rest his hand on the wolf's head as Bella had done before. It seemed to calm him enough to stop him from barring his teeth and growling. "I would say it's a pleasure to meet you, sir, but under the circumstances I don't believe that best describes this meeting."

Luther laughed placing his hands inside his pockets. Jeremy couldn't see them both clearly, but by the way the man was slightly taller than Klaus and was dressed in a similar casual style as Klaus he knew just how close the two actually were. It was when Luther stepped closer to him and into the moonlight that Jeremy saw the resemblance between the older man and his daughter. They had the same brown hair and the same kind expression on their face, but just as Bella he could see the dangerous side that lay inside.

"Yes, I can agree this is a strange meeting, but due to your involvement with my daughter I had to meet you. It seemed Maeva has gone to look for help with her gift, and it was clear to me that you must be the reason behind that." Luther looked to Klaus. "I asked aid of my old friend to help find you. I only know your name, so finding you would be a bit difficult. Not to mention I felt that you would have a more comfortable time speaking to me with a familiar face around."

Jeremy laughed, "Klaus? I don't know if you've heard but he killed my sister and my aunt."

Klaus scoffed, "Your sister is still alive, isn't she?"

Luther shook his head with a small smile. "Nonetheless, I think it is helping the situation. I don't mean to frighten you Mister Gilbert, I just want to speak with you. You seem to have a very strong connection with my daughter and I think you can tell me what is going on here that has her worked up enough to willingly seek help."

"No offense, sir, but Bella doesn't want you to know because she seems to think she can handle this on her own." Jeremy sighed, "But I think she might need your help, though she is unwilling to admit it."

Luther gave a small smile. "Maeva is strongly independent." He glanced down to the wolf and moved to pinch the bridge of his nose. "She said she set the animal free and back into the wild."

Jeremy smirked, "Technically, she did." He responded scratching the wolf's head. "She must have left out the part in which he came back."

Klaus chuckled, resting his hand on Luther's shoulder. "She didn't lie to you."

Luther smirked, "No, but she did avoid the truth, I'm sure you taught her how to do that."

"I have to pass on my knowledge to others." Klaus responded. "Lead us to your home, Jeremy, I have to get this blood off me."

"Please, Mister Gilbert, this would be easier to discuss inside." Luther added.

Jeremy nodded, "I'm sure Ric will be happy to see you, Klaus."

Luther looked towards Klaus in a silent question. "Jeremy's aunt was his girlfriend at the time of her death." Klaus explained.

Luther smiled, "You sure do know how to make things interesting, old friend."

-Page Break-

Bella closed her eyes in frustration as Andrew placed his hands where hers had been and healed the small girl. "I'm never going to get this right."

Andrew gave her a warm smile. "That's where you're wrong, you just need to focus."

"I am focusing. I just can't seem to get it." Bella said in frustration.

Andrew placed a hand on her shoulder. "You are focusing on the wrong thing, young one. Now, close your eyes and trust me."

Bella closed her eyes, "The trust thing might take some time."

Andrew smiled as he led Bella to another bed. "You keep focusing on the wrong things. You're focusing on the children, and that will only lead to you trying to rush your gift. This gift takes time, and it will take you time to be able to heal in the same way that I do. In the beginning you have to focus on something other than what might happen if you don't heal them. You have to focus on something that will bring you joy."

"Example?" Bella said as she felt Andrew pressing her hand onto something.

"I used to think of my sister, she was my greatest ally and she was a large part of my happiness at the time that I began to develop this gift." Andrew responded. "Just follow my instructions. Take in a deep breath and release. Now just focus your mind on something that makes you happy."

Bella's mind flooded to the day Jeremy first kissed her, and all the silly jokes he made. She couldn't help but smile at the memories and in an instant she felt the familiar sensation at the tips of her fingers. She opened her eyes to see that the eyelids of a young boy were beginning to flutter, and with astonishment Bella saw that smirk on Andrew's face.

"See." He said with a smirk. "Sometimes, to fix what is wrong you have to think about all that has gone right."

"It seems so easy when you put it like that." Bella responded quietly watching her gift work on the boy.

"It becomes easier the less you try to force it to work. The more battles you make for yourself, the harder it will get for you." Andrew gave her a warm smile. "Sometimes you just have to know how to get past all the terrible things that are stuck in your head. I have no doubt that it will be hard for you, but seeing how bright you are I'm sure you can handle it."

"The real question is how long will it take for me to handle this gift?" Bella responded her face turning downwards in a sad smile as she looked at the little boy.

"This gift was given to you for a reason, all of us were gifted with an ability that matched who we are on the inside. Your dreaming ability is your true gift, you are a dreamer Isabella, and you should have hope in yourself. The other gifts, are tied to your personality traits to receive this gift means you have the will to help others. Have faith in yourself and you will see that everything will turn out as it should."

Bella smiled, "Thanks Andrew."

-Page Break-

Jeremy watched as Luther and the others spoke about his death, they spoke as if it were nothing and although he thought it should bother him, it really didn't. To be honest, it was all just strange and a little bit awkward to hear.

"If you and he are here, I don't understand why the both of you don't go over there to kill them." Alaric said leaning back in his chair. "It would be the easiest way."

"We can't. As simple as the idea may seem, it will cause backlash. The Cullen coven, although obviously weak for their kind, they have ties to the Volturi. If they disappear they will come to know why, and I have no doubt that they will find out about Maeva. She shares common features to me and they will know that. They will see through her eye 'condition' of hers and that will cause a disaster." Luther looked to Jeremy with a sad smile.

"Jeremy, you mean an awful lot to my daughter, therefore you are a part of our family. I will do all that is possible to protect you." Luther assured.

Jeremy smiled, "You should really only worry about her. I'm sure I'll be fine, the main focus should be keeping Bella safe."

Luther smiled, "I can see what she likes about you. Rest assured, my daughter's safety always comes first, but I'm smart enough to make sure you live as well. Maeva will be distraught if she loses another person that she cares about."

Jeremy nodded, "Okay. So what's the grand plan?"

"That is yet to be figured out, Mr. Gilbert. But it shall be done soon." Luther responded with a smile. "In the meantime, do get some sleep you have school tomorrow. I wouldn't tell Maeva that I'm here just yet, I'll take care of that. I'll be around the town if anything is needed."

Jeremy watched Luther leave Klaus following after him, he could hear the quiet conversation that the two were having about the Volturi.

"He's going to be able to figure something out." Vanessa chimed in with a smile. "He's the oldest of us all after all, wisdom comes with age as they say."

Jeremy stood stunned for a moment. "He's really the oldest?"

Vanessa nodded, "Yes, of course. I mean you've had to have guessed that by now. Luther was the first of us, and he's been sort of a mentor to all of us through the years. I don't think Bella's aware of it as Luther doesn't speak of his age much, but he's our unofficial leader."

Jeremy sighed, "That's cool, my girlfriend's dad is the oldest being alive." Jeremy said turning to go to his room. "I'll be in my room with Rosko."

Jeremy entered his room to see Rosko already laying on his bed. He moved to join the dog and rested his head on the pillow to stare up at the ceiling. He smiled as he felt a small pressure on the bed, and without needing to look he already knew who it was. "How'd it go?"

"I'm getting better." Bella responded softly. "What has you in such deep thought. I've never seen you so serious."

Jeremy smiled, "I just met your dad, and he told me not to tell you that he's here, but you know I'm not good at keeping a secret."

"He knows about the Cullen coven." Bella stated without question, she knew her dad to well to know he wasn't already well informed about the happenings in this town. "Sorry you had to meet him like that."

Jeremy smiled, "It was interesting, definitely one of the better meetings I've ever had in the middle of the night in the woods."

"Are we still dating or did he scare you off?" Bella teased with a smile.

Jeremy grinned, "We're still dating, you're worth all the intimidation and the trouble."

"I should probably get back home." Bella said moving to stand up.

Jeremy pulled her back to him wrapping his arms around her and keeping her next to him. "No. Stay the night, you can wake up early and head back to your house. I need more B bonding time." He teased at the end.

Bella smiled, "Sounds good, Jer." She snuggled into his embrace and tried her best to think of only the best part of her lives. She was tired of all the dread that seemed to follow her around everywhere.


	10. I Swear

Author's Note

-Page Break-

Bella played aimlessly with her pencil, she twirled it around in her hand ignoring the lesson that was being taught. She couldn't help but have her mind on Luther all day, she worried what her father would do. Most of all, she worried over Charlie, she knew if Luther was in Forks things had gotten too serious.

"Hey." Jeremy said slightly shaking Bella back to the real world. "Come on, Bumble B, last class of the day."

Bella nodded and stood grabbing her bag. "I don't want to go to music class, I'm not feeling up to it."

Jeremy smiled, "That's okay, it won't be that long until the assembly for your performance. After that I'm sure you won't be alone with Creepy Cullen anymore."

Bella nodded her head, "Thanks, Jer." She smiled as he held her hand tightly, she walked at a slow pace beside him as they made their way to their last class of the day.

"I'll be here before the bell ends, B." Jeremy said as he stood outside of the class door. "Everything's going to be okay, trust me on this."

Bella smiled she leaned up to kiss him. "You're one of the few people I do trust, Jer." She whispered before heading inside of the class. She stood shocked to see her father standing at the front of the classroom.

"Wonderful." He said turning around and smiling widely at Bella. "You're here, I'm your new teacher Luther Dallson, its very short notice, but it seems your last music teacher suddenly decided to not return to Forks. I was hired at once to take her place and run this music program."

Bella glanced over her shoulder as Edward walked in and realized why her father was acting so strangely. "Pleasure." Bella said heading to her usual spot in the room. Just because he was her teacher didn't mean she was going to treat him any different than her other teachers, that would just be out of character.

"You must be Mr. Cullen. I apologize for the sudden change, but your earlier teacher has decided to quit. I'm stepping in, so we should get started, we don't have much time to waste here." Luther said moving to lean against a wall. "Let's start off where you left off, I don't have any need to change your music choice, so we'll go from there."

Edward nodded and glanced at Bella who had already prepared her cello to play. At the count to one they both began to play the sheet music that had been chosen for them by the previous teacher. Luther watched his daughter and could tell that she was beyond stressed at the situation that she was put in. He would fix it, because above everything else, he wanted his daughter to live a happy life, and he would do anything to assure that she did.

At the end of the song Luther hummed in appreciation. "Quite remarkable, bravo to your talent Ms. Swan, it shows that you're quite remarkable in your art."

Bella nodded, hiding the smirk on her face as she responded. "Thank you."

Edward interrupted, "We were told we were going to have to practice after school, I'm assuming that is still correct. Afterall, we will need the practice and time to synchronize our playing."

Luther huffed and pushed himself off the wall. "I don't know what she was thinking by suggesting that idea, it was as if she were compelled to do so." Luther smiled widely at Edward. "It won't be necessary to practice together, you're both harmonizing quite well. We will though however have to practice on your skills Mr. Cullen, I feel as though your movements on the keys are a little too… scratchy. We need to fix that so you can be at a similar level as Ms. Swan."

Bella bit her lip to hold her laughter at Edward's face, it was obvious her father was catching onto Edward quickly. Not to mention it now made full sense why the earlier teacher disliked her, and why she insisted they needed practice. She had been supernaturally influenced by Edward or his family.

Bella stood at the end of class and muttered a quick goodbye before exiting the class, leaving her father to lecture Edward on the art of playing the piano. She couldn't help the grin on her face as she saw Jeremy already waiting for her.

"I know your music teacher said you have to stay after school, but I was thinking…" Jeremy trailed off as Bella hugged him tightly. "Never mind, I like this better."

Bella laughed, "We have a new music teacher and he said we're just fine without extra practice." Bella took Jeremy's hand and led him to the parking lot. "I like this new teacher better; he recognizes my incredible talent."

"Does he also recognize how much of a show off you are." Jeremy teased as he gently pressed her against the door of the car. He leaned down to kiss her, one arm wrapped around her waist while the other tangled in her hair to bring her closer. "You're even more beautiful when you're happy, I'll do anything to keep you happy, bumble B."

Bella smiled and leaned into his touch as he caressed her cheek. "I'm always happy with you, Jer, you don't have to try so hard. Now, stop being a sap and let's get out of here."

Jeremy laughed and leaned down to peck her lips. "Want to tell me more about your music teacher?"

-Page Break-

Jeremy smiled as Rosko moved onto the couch and sat beside him. Bella had just left and not soon after did Luther arrive. "So what's going to happen now?"

Luther smiled, "Well, it's time for you to really begin to learn how to fight, Mr. Gilbert. Take no offense to this, but other hunters have been far more developed in their skills then you. It's time that you learn to become better than those that have come before you. Sadly, not many hunters before you could take on a coven of the second breed, but I'm sure you'll be a quick learner. And you just might when a fight against a coven of the second breed."

Jeremy laughed lightly. "What are Ric and Vanessa going to be doing?"

"A training of our own." Vanessa responded standing and pulling Alaric to a stand as well. Jeremy only smiled, because out of everyone Alaric was someone who deserved to find love again and to be happy.

Jeremy stood as now it was just him an Luther in the home. "I guess this is the point where we start my training."

"It is." Luther said leading Jeremy outside. "We will begin on testing your current abilities, Isabella speaks highly about your fighting ability, so I have grand expectations for you."

Jeremy smiled, "Thanks, let's just hope I can meet your expectations, and B just wasn't exaggerating."

Jeremy removed his jacket and sighed as Rosko immediately moved to lay down on it. He turned to Luther who was already rolling up the sleeves of his shirt. He stretched his muscles a bit so that he was more than ready to get started.

-In Another Area of the Earth-

Bella cleans one of the nursing beds, as Andrew brings in newly washed sheets for the bed.

"I know tonight is not as much training as you wished for, but sometimes you have to take a step back and focus on other things. Besides, it's always a joyful day when there are not many children to cure." Andrew said placing the sheets down on the bed.

"I don't mind doing this, everyone needs a bit of a break once and a while." Bella responded beginning to make the bed.

"How is your schooling going? Have you received a response from Juilliard about your audition?" Andrew questioned as he helped her with making the bed.

"I haven't received a response from them, but I did receive a response from a few other universities." Bella responded quietly. "If I don't get into Julliard it's just a matter of making a decision for one of the other schools."

"Do you really want to attend Julliard?" Andrew responded curiously as he fluffed up the pillow on the bed.

"It's been the plan since I was a kid." Bella responded with a shrug of her shoulders. "All my training and practice has led up to this moment."

"I don't believe that was what I asked, little one." Andrew responded with a smile.

Bella sighed, "Yes, I do want to attend Julliard. I love the program and I like the idea of being able to showcase my talent. I want to be able to do something that I enjoy for the rest of my time as a mortal."

"Did playing the cello always make you happy?" Andrew questioned curiously.

"Not always, but once I got older I found that it helped me express emotions I didn't know how to express in any other way." Bella responded fiddling with her hands. "It's hard to express something that you're not sure what it is."

Andrew smiled, "Come, sit for a moment, little one."

Bella sat down beside Andrew and watched as she fidgeted for only a second.

"When I was younger and still mortal, I had a mother who I have come to see as a true monstrosity. In my time, a young man was to be wed and become head of his household, the only problem was that my mother wished for me to become a farmer while I wanted to go into medicine. I had been accepted into one of the most prestigious schools of the time, and had been awarded what is now known as a full ride. My mother hid the news from me so that I could stay and farm, she also forced me into an engagement with a woman that was cruel and only interested in me for what I could offer her. My mother forced me into a life that I hated, after I had become immortal your father helped me fake my own death and I left. My sister and my wife got the estate, and I never heard from my mother again."

"It took me a few years to forgive all the abuse she had caused me since I was a child. It took me even longer to understand that I was worth more than she allowed me to believe. In the end, I learned to thank her for what she had done to me." Andrew responded with a small smile on his face.

"Why would you thank her? She forced you into a life you didn't want and a marriage you hated. She destroyed the mortal life you held." Bella responded in confusion.

"Because I came to realize that it was her cruel nature that led me to where I was and who I am. I care for others more than I care for myself because I was never truly cared for as a child. I know what it feels like to be uncared for, and I don't want that to happen to others in their lives. I am immortal, but they aren't and I want other's lives to be filled with love." Andrew reached over and squeezed Bella's hand in his.

"I want you to understand that what others do to you is not what matters, what matters is the way you choose to handle it. Do you choose to move forward, or do you choose to let it control your life? The decision is yours to make, and no one else's." Andrew responded with a smile. "If you choose to go to Julliard, let it be because it is what you want your future, not what someone else wants."

Bella smiled, "Julliard wasn't my dream when it was presented to me, it was my mother's. But when I learned to love the cello I knew that it was no longer my mother's dream but my own. I want to go to Julliard, but if I don't get in I know I can do much greater things with my talent."

-Back to the Woods In A Small Town in Washington-

Jeremy bent down with his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath a bit. "I feel exhausted. I haven't felt like this since before I became a hunter."

Luther smiled, "That's a good thing, Jeremy. It should be time for you to get some rest, you do have school tomorrow."

Jeremy straightened out to face Luther. "About that." He said brushing his hand through his sweaty hair. "B's pretty stressed lately, so I was thinking you could call in for her so that I could give her just a normal day. You know, one without all the stress about everything that's happening."

Luther smiled widely, "That sounds like a great idea, Jeremy, she needs less stress in her life at this moment. Just be sure to return at a reasonable time, I would hate to have to hunt you down."

Jeremy smiled, "No problem, sir."

Jeremy followed Luther inside of his home and gave Rosko some water. "Are you worried?" Jeremy questioned before Luther could leave the home.

"I know that my Maeva will live." Luther responded placing his hands inside his pockets. "My only worry is that she will never have a normal life. That is why I am grateful that you two have found each other, you both seem to give the other what they need. When Niklaus spoke to me about you, I already knew you were just the person my daughter needed in her life, as a friend or otherwise."

Jeremy laughed, "Here I thought the only thing Klaus had to say about me were terrible things."

Luther smiled, "Niklaus has always been brutally honest about his opinions of others, and some are positive while some are not."

"Thank you for helping me." Jeremy said as he led Luther to the door.

"Thank you for trying to protect my daughter." Luther responded with a bow of his head before he disappeared.

Jeremy turned back around and to no surprise he found Bella sitting on the couch with Rosko. "Were you waiting for your father to leave?"

Bella smiled, "Kept popping back in and out, I'm not feeling up to being lectured by him just yet."

Jeremy took a seat beside her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder pulling her in closer so she could rest her head on his shoulder. "Everything go well for you?"

Bella nodded running her fingers through Rosko's fur. "Yeah, I'm just tired."

"Come on, I'll walk you home and you can get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow morning." Jeremy said taking Bella's hand pulling her to stand. "I've got a surprise for you tomorrow, so I'm going to need you well rested."

Bella smile and nodded her head, not bothering asking what the surprise was. "Okay, Jer."

Jeremy paused at the front of her house door, he leaned in and kissed her goodnight. "I promise, tomorrow will be a wonderful day."

"I believe you, Jer. I'll see you tomorrow morning." Bella said kissing his cheek before she went to open the front door, but Jeremy held her hand for a moment.

"Wear a coat tomorrow, I hear it's supposed to rain and I don't want that to ruin our day tomorrow." Jeremy responded with a smile.

"It always rains in Forks, Jer." Bella responded with a smile as she hid inside the house.

Jeremy smiled as he turned around and headed home. Tomorrow would be a wonderful day, and he would be sure that Bella enjoyed it.

-Page Break-

Jeremy entered the Swan residence and smiled as Bella had on a raincoat. "You ready to go?"

Bella nodded, but yawned slightly. "Yeah, I'm just a bit tired." She grabbed her backpack and swung it over her shoulders before following Jeremy out the door.

"Where's Rosko?" Jeremy questioned as he opened the car door for Bella.

"He's in the woods, I let him out before you came." Bella responded stepping into the car. She placed her bag in the back of the car and leaned back in the seat.

Jeremy pulled out of the driveway and began to drive. "You need more sleep."

Bella smiled, "No I don't." She responded, she took his hand in hers and played with his fingertips as he drove. "What I need is more hours of the day."

Jeremy gently squeezed her hand, he turned the car away from the school and began to drive towards the exist of the town so that they could be on their way to Seattle.

"I'm not sure if you're aware, but you're headed in the wrong direction." Bella commented as she glanced out the window.

"I know, I'm giving you a day off from school, and we're going to ditch." Jeremy easily reached into the back seat and grabbed a blanket he had for her and gave it to her. "Take a nap, the drive will be long so you'll have time to rest for a bit. I have a pillow back there for you too."

Bella smiled, "The school will call and Charlie's going to start thinking you're a bad influence." She teased while leaning the seat back and getting comfortable.

"I've got that covered too, I talked to Luther yesterday he called the school for the both of us. If anyone asks we're both sick with a fever." Jeremy responded with a wide grin on his face. "Now, go to sleep, I'll wake you up when we get to our first stop of the day."

"You have an itinerary?" Bella teased with a slight yawn.

Jeremy smiled, "Maybe."

Jeremy watched as Bella almost instantly fell asleep. He couldn't help but smile as she had curled herself into a ball on the passenger seat, he knew she was dead tired, and he just hoped she would admit it more.

Once they had arrived Jeremy parked and looked over at Bella. He reached over and began to slowly shake her awake. "Bumble B, we've arrived to our destination."

Bella sat up and rubbed her eyes for a moment. "We have?"

Jeremy smiled, "Yes, now it's time for us to get out of the car. We have a lot of exploring to do today, at least six hours' worth."

Bella blinked her eyes and looked out of the window. "A Zoo?"

"It's the Woodland Park Zoo. It's the best place to be a kid again, so get out of the car, we have quite a bit of exploring to do." Jeremy responded grabbing his backpack from the backseat of the car before exiting the vehicle.

Bella smiled but followed him. "So what's the plan?"

"We're going to go look at animals and see if you can develop a new gift and be able to talk to animals." Jeremy responded with a grin. "It'll be fun if you stop thinking about everything else that's happening. We're just going to focus on the animals and all the pretty things the zoo has to offer."

Bella smiled and nodded, "Okay. I think I can do that, so where do we go from here?"

"To the entrance. After that, we'll just walk and see where we end up." Jeremy responded with a smile. "It's going to be a good day, Bumble B."

Bella nodded, "It's always a good day with you, Jer." She responded grabbing his hand in hers as they made their way to the entrance of the zoo. She had no doubt that this would be a good day for the both.

-In A Different Country-

The woman entered the beautiful room, her eyes instantly landing on the blood-stained floors, and for a moment she regretted coming, but then she remembered either way her time was running out. Her eyes scanned the three creatures before her. Unnatural eternal beauty was the best way to describe the three in front of her.

She bowed her head in a slight form of respect, she truthfully didn't know what else to do in this situation. The only thing she was certain of was that she shouldn't speak until she was spoken to.

"It is always intriguing to know of a human who knows of our kind." The velvet smooth voice rang through the room. "It is rare for a human to come in here so willingly, it is even more rare for a human to request a meeting. Why should I allow you to live after being so bold?"

With a lift of her head she met the red eyes of the dark-haired king. "Because I gave birth to the girl that is set to break the curse."

A moment of unnatural silence filled the room before all that could be heard were the footsteps of the man as he stepped forward in an agonizingly slow pace.

"There is only one way to prove this." He remarked extending his hand to her. "I'm sure you're aware of my ability."

With a nod of her head the woman placed her hand in his gently. Hiding the wince from her face as he squeezed her hand tightly, no doubt breaking her bones.

With a gasp of delight the king released her hand. "My lovely Renee, you shall receive what you wish for under the circumstances that you assist us in the murder of your daughter."

Renee nodded her head. "I would love nothing more."

"Then it is settled, soon lovely Isabella will die and the world will be set right again." Aro responded before leaning in and giving Renee the fatal bite that would make her immortal. He let her withering body fall onto the floor. "Demetri, come watch over her she is your charge now. We have things to prepare for."


	11. The Truth is a Terrible Thing

Author's Note

New One-shot tomorrow and this story will hopefull updated again soon along with Reaping of New Orleans.

-Page Break -

Bella took Jeremy's hand and held it tightly, some part of her was scared to let it go, afraid that if she did he would be gone for good. It was almost as if there was something in her soul telling her that she might not have him forever.

"Everything okay in that head of yours, Bumble B?" Jeremy questioned as the two of them made their way through the crowd of students and into the school.

Bella responded with a light smile. "Yeah, everything is fine, Jer, I just got lost in my thoughts."

Jeremy nodded, "I know you're still scared, B, but everything's going to be okay. You and I, we're going to get through this."

"I hope you're right." Bella responded moving close to Jeremy to kiss him sweetly before smiling and pulling away from him. "There's a history exam today, have you studied for it?"

"Not a chance, the only thing I've been studying is the techniques your father's been teaching me. I have a feeling he's enjoying beating me up." Jeremy responded with a bright grin, moving and pulling Bella back to him. Her back was pressed to his chest and he rested his head on her shoulder. "Ric is into history I'm sure I'll be fine. I do however need help with my calculus homework, I don't know how you can do that work without having an aneurism."

"If you paid attention in class than you wouldn't have such a problem with all the work." Bella responded with a fond smile, as she felt Jeremy kiss her neck.

"It's hard to pay attention when I sit next to you." Jeremey responded kissing her jaw and up to her cheek. "You're hard to look away from."

"And you're a sap." Bella responded pulling away from Jeremy, she entered the classroom feeling a bit more at ease with the warmth that Jeremy offered her. Her dreams hadn't changed, but at least Jeremy was there to allow her into his dreams and offer a distraction from the horrific reality that lay ahead for the two of them.

Bella was sure that her father had begun to come up with a plan in his head, but had yet to share any of the ideas he was developing. Either way, she was sure it wouldn't change the outcome, she would've seen something. Bella smiled as Jeremy took the seat beside her and instead of pulling out his notebook took out his sketchpad.

Bella looked up as Mike and Jessica took the seats in front of them. She couldn't help but laugh in amusement as the two began bickering almost instantly. She reached over and held Jeremy's hand, she just needed to feel the warmth of his skin once more. She smiled at Jeremy before she turned her attention to the front of the class as the teacher stepped in. Mike and Jessica's bickering quieted as well, but didn't completely stop, and thankfully for Bella all of this was a reminder that this small part of her life was normal.

Despite being supernatural, she was at school just another girl. A girl with a high school sweetheart, straight A's, extracurricular activities, and everything inside the school walls was normal. Bella smiled, she wouldn't stop worrying about what to do to keep Jeremy alive, she would just make sure that inside these school walls she lived the same life as everyone else in the halls.

-Page Break-

Bella sat with her back against the tree outside in Jeremy's backyard, her dad was training with Jeremy, Alaric and Vanessa were enjoying their new relationship, but she was thinking. She had learned that Jeremy would die, but before that it was her life that was on the line, and she knew deep in her soul that there was something there to discover. There was something that her visions were trying to show her, a loophole, but she had been missing the message.

Bella couldn't help but smile at the warm head of her wolf that came to lay down beside her. His head on her lap, she rested her hand on his head and lightly ran her hand through his fur. She tried to focus on the past visions that she's had, so far, she and Jeremy have died. It was strange to her that no one else had died, and that as of late all her visions had been centered around her and Jeremy.

Bella furrowed her brows in thought, before she would constantly have visions of her dads and friends, they were always trivial things telling her about their future, but since she came to Forks the only vision she had were about her and Jeremy. It was now clear to her that the missing puzzle to this story revolved around her relationship with Jeremy.

She looked up to see Jeremy and Luther practicing movements, she hated what was to come next, but she knew that tonight she wouldn't go meet with Andrew and she wouldn't escape into Jeremy's dreams, she would need to force herself to have a vision. There was something she was missing, something she had overlooked in her past visions that was a crucial part in everything.

Bella smiled as Jeremy looked over at her with his ever-present grin, she was just happy that the light still reached his eyes, and he didn't hate her for bringing all this trouble into his life.

"Vanessa." Luther said catching the brunette's attention. "Show Mr. Gilbert how to defend himself against someone who's airborne. I want him to be prepared for anything."

Vanessa smiled, she took any chance she could to use her wings. Luther moved quickly and sat beside his daughter, "There's something on your mind."He stated without question in his voice.

"There's always something on my mind." Bella responded petting Rosko's fur.

"Yes, but there is something that is currently drifting in your mind that has you filled with worry." Luther responded smiling down at his daughter. "I know you well enough to know when there is something that is disturbing you, Maeva."

"The optimistic part of my mind wants to believe that my visions will soon change, that whatever plan you've begun to create will fix everything and Jeremy will live." Bella responded moving to look at Jeremy. "That we'll get to graduate, Jeremy will go to Cornell or Yale or Harvard and I'd go to Juilliard, and we'd still be together. We'll be living separate lives, but still be together, that we'll be safe and happy in this little bubble of ours."

"And the other part of your mind?" Luther questioned. "What does it believe?"

Bella frowned, "That despite how much I love him, I'm going to be the reason why he dies. I feel like there's something missing, there's something within my visions that I haven't been able to connect the dots and solve. I have these pieces to a puzzle, but I just can't put them together. And I'm scared that when I finally put them together I'm not going to like what the outcome is."

Luther nodded, "Sometimes the future isn't concrete, there is always going to be a need for change and there is always a missing piece to the puzzle, but no matter what, there is always a loophole."

Bella smiled, "Not everything is going to turn out how I want it to. This world isn't a fairytale dad, it's cruel and unfair, so I believe that this loophole you're talking about will save his life, but at a cost."

"You should really be asking yourself what you're willing to give for him to live." Luther responded he reached over and held her hand. "Just know that I will be here to help you, we'll all get through this alive."

Bella smiled and squeezed her dad's hand in comfort. "But at what cost? What must be sacrificed? Life is cruel and as relieving as it will be to know that Jeremy will live, what horrific thing has to happen in order for that to happen?" Bella gave her dad a small smile. "I hate to admit it, dad, but I'm scared."

"I know, Maeva." Luther responded kissing her head. "I will do all that I can to help you."

-Page Break-

Bella wrapped the covers on her bed tightly around herself. She had told Jeremy she had gone to see Andrew, but she just needed to sleep. She needed to dream and she knew if she told Jeremy he would warn her to stay away from her visions. Bella closed her eyes and focused on her breathing, she felt herself drift off and when she opened her eyes again things were different.

 _Bella was back in the woods, and as the scene played out she felt her heart drop, because Jeremy was going to die again. Only her eyes shifted to the shadow in the woods and things were different now. She followed the figure and then she saw red eyes, red eyes that were running towards her, knocking her onto the floor. Bella's vision became blurry and she couldn't see who was now strangling her, but she could feel their icy cold hands wrapped around her neck. Worst of all, she could practically feel the joy rolling off them._

Bella began to gasp for air, but it was useless. Her vision was going black and before she knew it she was sitting up on her bed, her hands at her throat as she tried to regulate her breathing. "It's never going to end." Bella whispered, because she understood now that no matter what changed, what plan was created one of them always had to die while the other was cursed to live.

Bella moved and put on her shoes, she turned and pet Rosko on the head before disappearing. Bella sagged onto the plush couch. "Life is a nightmare." She said catching the attention of the man standing on the other side of the room with a paint brush in hand.

A deep chuckle was her response. "Hello, love. What brings you by? Isn't it midnight in Washington?" He examined her clothes. "Bad dream?"

"Do you remember when I was younger and you told me that Romeo and Juliet were two kids that were never supposed to meet, and that's why they had to die. Because their souls were made for each other, but their lives were never meant to cross." Bella said sighing and putting her feet up on the coffee table.

Klaus nodded, "I remember, we argued on their fates for close to two hours. Is there a reason you bring this up?"

Bella nodded, "Star crossed lovers."

"I'm assuming you're not here to discuss Shakespeare." Klaus responded moving to sit across from Bella. "What did you want to discuss?"

"When I was younger you told me that a lot of vampires have mates, sometimes more than one since they for multiple life spans." Bella said sitting up and staring at Klaus. "I figured it out."

"You figured out why you and Jeremy are always destined to die." Klaus responded understanding the direction of this conversation. "Why come to me?"

Bella sighed, "Because you were the one who told me about mates. I think Edward is right, I am his mate, but I believe Jeremy was never supposed to be in the picture." Bella stood and began to pace. "I think Jeremy was supposed to stay in Mystic Falls, he was supposed to end up in a long and healthy relationship with Bonnie. While I was supposed to be in Forks falling in love with Edward Cullen, and preparing to live an eternal life with him."

"But Jeremy didn't stay in Mystic Falls, he went to Forks." Klaus continued following Bella's train of thought, the two of them were never supposed to meet, they were never supposed to fall in love. "If Edward was truly your mate you wouldn't have been able to fall so in love with someone else."

"You're wrong." Bella said quietly her mind working rapidly. "You told me that vampires often have two mate, right? That logic also means that as humans we have two possible soul mates, but we're only destined to meet one in our life path. I know this may be a bit of a stretch, but I think that fate had known Jeremy would die, that's why I was supposed to meet Edward, because Jeremey would be dead. But Jeremy didn't stay dead, so our fates were blurred, and when Jeremy and I met it sealed our bond to each other, because he was my first mate, he was the original half of my soul. Edward was only my 'mate' because Jeremy had died. Jeremy and I, we were never met to meet, so when we did we threw off our futures, and one of us has to die in order for the other to live a peaceful life. As long as we're together we'll always be in trouble."

"You don't have to do anything." Klaus responds standing. "There's no need for a death."

Bella shook her head "No, there is. That's why no matter what plan is created, one of us will always die. Edward will never stop fighting for me, because to him I'm his mate, and that means Jeremy will always be in danger, because Edward is stupid enough to go to the Volturi for help. But, I'm supposed to break this curse, and my fate has been sealed since I was born, so Jeremy will always die, and it will always be because of me."

"Isabella." Klaus said in warning knowing her mind was going somewhere dark. "Your death will not save him."

Bella's eyes widened in realization. "You're wrong. My death will be the only thing to save him, because if we're not together he's not in danger. If I die, if I disappear from this life, he will live and he'll be safe. His path will be corrected, everything will shift back into focus."

"Isabella." Klaus warned. "You're not thinking clearly."

Bella turned to him and smiled. "I'm not going to do anything at this moment, I was just thinking." She approached him and gave him a tight hug. "Thank you for letting my ramble, you know my dad will never let me get this far with my thoughts. He would've stopped me two minutes ago. I'll call you soon, Nik."

Bella appeared back in her room. Her mind was racing, but she couldn't go back to sleep she needed to think and she needed to plan for a way to save Jeremy's life, permanently.

-Page Break-

Bella got ready for school, she fed Rosko, and before she could head out her father appeared by the door. "Good morning."

"Morning, Maeva." Luther responded from the door. "Niklaus said you went to speak to him, he was worried you might do something dangerous."

Bella nodded, knowing Klaus had probably been talking to her father the entire night. "I'm not going to do anything. I just figured it out, Dad. I figured out why one of us always has to die, and I'm going to figure out how to stop it."

"You don't have to figure this out on our own." Luther responded stopping her before she could leave.

Bella nodded, "You're right, but I have to get to school, and currently that's the only place where this mess hasn't leaked into yet, so I refuse to think about anything other than normal teenage life when I'm at school." Bella patted her dad on the shoulder. "We'll talk when school is over, I promise."

"You're not an adult." Luther called out after her with a smirk.

"I'm close enough." Bella responded as she walked over to Jeremy's home to go to school.

-Page Break-

Bella rested her head on Rosko's fur as she closed her eyes. The noises of her father and boyfriend fighting in the background were comforting to her, they helped her know that she was surrounded by those she loved. Bella tried to regulate her breathing and she relaxed, letting her mind drift into sleep.

 _Bella opened her eyes to see someone who looks exactly like her standing in front of her. Bella handed off her backpack to the girl, and sighed. "Just, tell Jeremy that I love him okay."_

" _I thought you took care of that." Bella #2 responded as she put on the backpack and took Bella's phone from her, handing her a new pink one instead._

 _Bella smiled, as she placed the phone in her back pocket. "I did, but it never hurts to tell him again. Thank you for doing this."_

" _Immortality means this won't hurt… A lot." Bella #2 responded she nodded towards Bella. "Everything will be okay, get out of here, I'll make sure he's okay."_

 _Bella nodded she looked out the window, and over at Jeremy's home, she took in a deep breath before she disappeared ending up in a small house in the middle of nowhere. She waited for what felt like days to her, but by the time the sun had long ago set and the stars were already in the sky she finally got the message._

 _ **Jeremy's alive, a broken finger, but otherwise safe. Elizabeth is in the morgue.**_

 _Bella sighed, pressing the phone to her chest in relief. She felt tears stream down her face and her chest was becoming tight as she cried, but he was alive and for now that was all that mattered. He was alive, she was dead, and everything was back to what it should be. Edward would mourn for her, but move on, the Volturi would become distracted thinking she was dead, and Jeremy would be alive._

Bella gasped sitting up and catching the attention to all of those around her.

"Bumble B." Jeremy said approaching her, his concern etched all over his face as he looked at her. "Are you okay? Bad dream?"

Bella frowned, "Yeah, I'm fine." Bella blinked her eyes and couldn't help the smile that crossed her face. "I'm starving, want to go get something to eat at the diner?"

Jeremy returned her smile. "Sure, I could use it. It feels like I haven't eaten in months." He held his hand out to her and helped her up. He would question her later, but for now he was more than happy to give her this small amount of normalcy. "Love you, Bumble B." He whispered to her before he leaned into lightly kiss her.

"I know." Bella responded sincerely. "I love you, Jer. Always will."


	12. Hard to Swallow

Author's Note

Tell me what you think, and I hope you enjoy!

-Page Break-

Bella smiled and kissed Jeremy on his cheek, "I have to get going Jer, I promised I'd go see Andrew."

Jeremy frowned, "Fine, but just so you know if you come back and I'm dead. it's your father's fault. He and Ric have decided that it would be useful for me to use weapons more. And as much confidence that I have in myself I do not trust myself with knives."

"You'll be fine." Bella responded, "Take care of my wolf." Bella said before she disappeared in front of Jeremy's eyes. She appeared in the comfort of Andrews home in a matter of seconds.

"You've arrived!" Andrew commented with a grin. "I'm glad you're here, we have a busy night ahead of us. There was an outbreak of chicken pox recently, and I do not want to see any children pass away."

Bella nodded quickly following Andrew to make the walk to the center where he worked. "How many of the kids have chicken pox?"

"Almost all of them. I've managed to keep the babies from getting sick, but the other children are suffering and I don't have enough time to heal them all. Not to mention that it would be suspicious if miraculously all the children were healed." Andrew said his pace quickened and Bella could tell by his stance that he was stressed to get these children all healed up.

Bella followed Andrew into the orphanage and quickly began to do as she was instructed. She admired Andrew's ability to continue to smile and make the children laugh even in the environment they were in. Bella worked quietly, letting the feeling of being able to heal someone take over her mind and block away any thoughts.

It was later in the night that Bella was folding bedsheets that Andrew and her finally spoke since arriving at the center.

"How are you doing?" Andrew questioned moving to stand in front of Bella to help her fold the sheets.

"I'm fine." Bella responded with a nod of her head.

Andrew smiled fondly at Bella. "My dear, you cannot lie. What is happening in your life? How are things going with your boyfriend? I'm all ears if you want to speak about what's bothering you."

Bella smiled, "Did you know that vampires have soulmates?"

"I'm aware of the legend. It's often believed that everyone has a soulmate." Andrew responded folding the sheets. "It's all about whether you believe in the idea of soulmates or not."

"I do believe that not only vampires, but humans as well have soulmates. But the thing with Vampires is that often they get two soulmates, because they tend to lose their soul mate once they turn into vampires. Their next soulmate comes once they're vampires, sometimes they'll be vampires, other times they'll be human." Bella responded with a frown.

Andrew hummed in response. "So, it is possible for a human to have a vampire soulmate. I've always wondered, it seemed strange."

"That's the thing, a human can be mated to both a vampire and a human at the same time. But fate will keep the two humans away from each other so that the vampire will be able to have their soulmate." Bella responded with a frown. "So, unknowingly, a human loses their intended soulmate to be with their secondary soulmate, the vampire."

"By loses you mean their human soulmate dies?" Andrew questions curiously. "How did you figure that out?"

"When I was younger, my father's friend Nik had these books and he was the one who introduced the idea to me. I've told you before how no matter what I do I or Jeremy always end up dying. I came to realize that Jeremy is my soulmate, but fate had meant for him to die, which he did. The only problem was that Jeremy didn't stay dead, and we met which was not something we were supposed to do. Now, one of us, Jeremy mostly, is going to repeatedly die, because I was supposed to fall in love with a vampire." Bella finished with a sigh. "The only way for me to stay alive is for Jeremy to die and the only way for Jeremy to live is for me to die."

Andrew tensed. "I hope you haven't made any hasty decisions."

Bella smiled, "I've decided to die, but not really. I have this plan, where I fake my death and remove myself permanently from my life as Isabella Swan. This way, Jeremy will be able to live, without either of us really having to die. I'm just scared, I don't know if my dad will approve, but I know that this will work. And I'm more than willing to do anything to keep Jeremy alive."

Andrew smiled, "When you speak about Jeremy, I wish I had that sort of connection with someone. Even if it's short lived, you should be happy to experience such love with someone."

"I just…" Bella sighed, "This will help. I know it will, the Volturi will be able to learn of my death I'll be safer than I have ever been before. I just don't want to give Jeremy up, it's selfish and I know that I have to in order for him to be safe, but it hurts."

"This is nothing more than a bump in the road for you, my dear." Andrew responded with a grin. "You are meant to do wonderful things, and as long as you see the joy in life, the pain won't be as great. I can't imagine the hurt your feeling, but I know that if anyone can get through this, it's you. Do not think of this as the end of your relationship with Jeremy, think of it as a new beginning. If you are truly meant to be together, then you will be, but only when the time is right for the both of you."

Bella gave a small smile. "I certainly hope this isn't the end of Jeremy and I."

"As long as you continue to hope and believe that you will be together again, then you will be." Andrew responded.

Bella grinned, "You know, if this job ever gets boring you could be a great therapist."

Andrew chuckled, "My heart lies here."

-Page Break-

Bella typed away at her computer while Jeremy worked on an English paper. She was going to make a very clear and unbreakable plan that would keep Jeremy safe. Currently, the only variable in her plan was Elizabeth, but once she had that she could present her idea to her dad.

"You know, you could tell me whatever it is that you're planning." Jeremy said looking up from the screen of his computer.

"I'm going to save your life." Bella responded looking over her shoulder and smiling at Jeremy. "I don't want to brag, but I'm a sort of a genius."

Jeremy laughed, "What is your plan so far? More importantly, do you and I both get to stay alive?"

Bella grinned and closed her computer. "I told you, I'm a genius." She moved and laid down beside Jeremy, resting her head on his shoulder. "This paper was due two days ago."

"I'm aware, and I'm charming enough that I was given an extension." Jeremy responded setting his computer aside and moving to wrap Bella up in his arms. "We're going to be okay, you know."

"How can you be so sure?" Bella questioned in response, burying herself further into the warmth Jeremy's embrace offered her.

"I'm an optimist." Jeremy responded with a smile. "And I can feel it, in the pit of my stomach I know we're going to be okay. It's not going to be easy and it may hurt, but eventually everything will work out okay."

Bella moved so she could see Jeremy's face and took in the familiar features of his face. She wanted to remember this for the moments that she wouldn't be able to be this close to him anymore. "What if it takes years? None of this may stop, your life or my life will continue to be in danger until I'm able to complete my transition. Is it worth it?"

Jeremy frowned, taking in the sorrow on Bella's face. "It could be centuries, but it would be worth it. You're worth it. My dad used to tell me all the time that he knew my mom was the one for him the moment they met, when he got to know her there was no doubt in his mind." Jeremy leaned down and lightly brushed his lips against Bella's. He pulled back a few moments later and rested his forehead against her own. "There is no doubt in my mind that you're the one for me, so if I have to wait years for the two of us to be able to live a relatively normal existence, then I'll wait. You're worth that."

Bella smiled, her eyes watering slightly so she closed them. She buried her head in the crook of Jeremy's neck, "It's not going to be easy."

"Nothing good is ever easy." Jeremy replied, a wave of fear washing over him. He was now beginning to realize that whatever plan Bella had come up with would hurt them both, but the pain would be worth the reward in the end. It had to be.

What felt like minutes later, but was close to two hours later Ric poked his head into the room. "Don't mean to disturb your nap or whatever, but Luther is downstairs and he brought swords."

Bella smiled, "Don't forget to take your band-aids with you, Jer."

Jeremy frowned, "I hate your teleportation." He announced as he and Bella stood.

Bella leaned over and kissed Jeremy's cheek. "I love teleportation."

Jeremy rolled his eyes as Bella was gone in a second. "Swords? I thought we were moving on to something else?"

"Vanessa says if Luther is anything he's meticulous." Alaric responded with a grin. "And he's making sure you're capable of doing anything with your special hunter skills. Come on, Van and I have a bet going on that you'll cut a finger off, I have faith in you so don't let me down."

"How much are you betting?" Jeremy questioned following Ric down the stairs, "And do I get a cut of the money?"

"We're not betting money." Alaric responded with a smirk.

Jeremy crinkled his nose. "Okay, that's gross."

Bella appeared at the doorway of an apartment in New York. She knocked softly before taking a step back, crossing her arms behind her back and waiting for the answer.

"I was expecting a pizza delivery boy, but you're a wonderful surprise." A small blonde said as she leaned against the doorway and eyed Bella. "Come in, Maeva."

Bella sighed, "I would really like it if you just called me Bella."

"My bad, I'm so used to your dad calling you by Maeva I just follow what he says." The small woman responded moving aside and letting Bella into the apartment. "So, what are you doing here?"

"I'm going to die and I need your help making sure that it all goes smoothly." Bella said entering the apartment.

"Oh sweetheart, you're going to have to give me more info or you'll dad will bury me alive." Elizabeth responded closing the door. "So, what is it? Because no one is going to be this calm if they're really dying."

Bella smiled, "I'm not really dying. I'm just going to pretend I am and have everyone I love and know think I'm dead so that the love of my life doesn't end up dying a grizzly death."

"You want me to take your place and pretend to die?" Elizabeth questioned with a smirk.

"Essentially yes." Bella responded with a shrug. "The problem is I don't know how I'm going to die, I'm just vaguely sure it's going to be about a week before my graduation."

"Can I at least know exactly why this is happening? Last any of us heard, you were safe and profoundly happy with your boyfriend and your friends." Elizabeth responded taking a seat across from Bella in the living room. "What's changed?"

Bella sighed, "Quite a lot, fate is sort of an asshole."

"Oh sweetheart. If you were old enough to drink I'd offer you something strong."

-Page Break-

Bella returned to her home at close to dawn. She had successfully convinced Elizabeth to be a part of her plan, and now all she had left to do was put the plan in writing before she handed it over to her dad.

Bella was finishing up her writing when she heard Rosko stand and bark at the window. She stood half-expecting the ever present creepy Cullen at her window. She raised an eyebrow instead as she saw Jeremy balancing on the branch of the tree outside her window.

"You know, there's this thing called a door." Bella said as she opened her window.

Jeremy grinned. "I thought this was every girl's dream? And Charlie is very likely to kill me if I try using the front door at this time of day."

"Come in before you end up falling off and hurting yourself." Bella said grinning as she helped Jeremy enter the room. "Did you just climb that tree to try and be romantic, or did you come here for a better reason?"

"I want to know what your plan is, so I can try and make you feel better about it." Jeremy responded letting his hand mindlessly pet Rosko's head. "It's what adorably kind boyfriends do."

Bella smiled and turned around and printed out the essay she had written. She handed the papers to Jeremy. "Here you go."

Jeremy laughed lightly, "You wrote a paper about this? Bumble B, you are my favorite nerd." Jeremy smiled and tugged Bella closer to him and kissed her. "You need to get some sleep, so come on."

Bella laughed, "Are you tucking me into bed? Do I get a bedtime story too?"

"Only if you're good." Jeremy responded with a smile, he watched as Bella got into the bed, Rosko moving to lay at her feet comfortably. Jeremy got into the bed beside her, his back resting against the headboard as he planned to stay up and read the well thought out plan that Bella had created.

Bella rested her head on Jeremy's lap. "I'm sorry ahead of time. I know you won't like it, but it's the only logical way."

Jeremy nodded running his hand through Bella's hair. "Get some sleep, Bumble B, we can talk about this more in the morning."

Bella nodded and gave a small yawn. "You'll have to sneak back out, I'm sure Charlie will murder you if he finds you in here."


	13. Predictable

Author's Note

Well... I know this is a little late, but I still hope you enjoy to read it. Till next week!

Tell me what you think, and I hope you enjoy

-Page Break-

Bella opened her eyes; her heart was racing as her dream lingered in the back of her mind. The plan she had created would work, she saw it in her dreams. It was a weight off her shoulders to know that Jeremy would live, but it had hurt when she saw Jeremy at her funeral. The look on his face and the tears in his eyes was an image she wanted to get out of her head.

Bella rubbed at her eyes and sat her back resting against the headboard as she tried to forget the look on Jeremy's face as her casket was lowered into the ground. She turned her head to finally notice that he wasn't in the room with her. She noticed the plain white notecard that sat on top of her pillow.

 _I read the plan, Bumble B._

 _-J._

Bella looked at the note, she was finally realizing that this plan would work, but would change something in Jeremy. He would suffer more than she had originally thought, Bella would have the knowledge that Jeremy was alive and he would have to see her die, he'd have to go to her funeral. In the future he would know she was alive, but that didn't matter when he had to be the one to bury her.

Bella looked over the side of her bed and saw Rosko there. "This is going to be harder than I thought it would be." She leaned over and pet his head. "You'll take care of him for me, right?"

-Page Break-

Alaric knocked on Jeremy's door after being told by Vanessa that the young boy was pacing in his room. "Hey, how are you?"

Jeremy turned to Alaric and frowned. "Bella came out with this detailed plan that keeps us both alive."

Alaric fully entered the room, closing the door behind him. "Okay, I don't see what's wrong with that. The entire problem has been that you're both going to die. If you both get to live and make it to a ripe old age, what's the problem?"

"I have to see her die." Jeremy responded, his voice soft as he spoke. "Bella will fake her death, very convincingly, and I won't know it's fake. I'll see her die and I'll have to be there to bury her, Ric. I won't be able to see Bella again, I won't get to go to college with her, or share an apartment… I don't get the future I wanted with her… We'll both be alive, but what's the point if we have to be separated?"

Alaric took in a deep breath, he wanted more than anything for Jeremy to have a normal life, but he knew that was now close to impossible. He couldn't imagine what it would feel like for him to lose Bella, to lose another person he loved. "It's going to suck." Alaric admitted leaning against the wall. "You'll want to die, and it won't be easy for you Jeremy."

Jeremy gave a bitter laugh. "Thanks, Ric."

"But it'll be worth it." Alaric commented quietly. "Eventually Bella will break the Corpse curse and you two will find each other again. The years between now and then won't be easy, but you have to know that it'll be worth it when you two can be together without having to constantly worry about the other dying or being hunted by someone."

Jeremy sighed and sat down on his bed. "I don't know if I can do it, Ric." Jeremy admitted softly. "I'm not sure I can handle losing someone else. I can't imagine losing her even if it is only temporarily. I won't know it's temporary, it'll be real for me."

Alaric nodded, "I know, but you'll always have me, Ness, and your family. Jeremy, have you thought about what this will be like for Bella? You will get to go to college, live in a city and experience your young adult years free of worrying about dying. Sure, you'll miss her, but at least you get to have your friends and family around. If Bella has to pretend to die, she's going to have to be dead to everyone around her. She won't get to see you, her dad, her friends, the other corpses. She'll have to live years alone and away from everyone she cares about."

Jeremy placed his head in his hands, "She's worked so hard to get into Julliard and she won't get to go." Jeremy whispered tears stinging his eyes as he thought about the future he wanted for them and the future that now awaited them. "But it'll be worth it. We'll have forever together, we just have to get through the rough parts first." Jeremy assured himself quietly. "It has to be worth it."

"It will be." Alaric assured with a shrug of his shoulders. "You just have to have faith."

"That's easy for you to say, your girlfriend can never die." Jeremy replied with a sigh.

-Page Break-

"Maeva." Luther greeted with a smile. "What can I do for you?"

Bella extended her report to him. "I need you to read this, because I've figured out how to stay alive."

Luther glanced oddly at his daughter for a moment before reaching for the papers. "Maeva, I will not allow you to be put in danger."

Bella sighed and rolled her eyes. "Read what I wrote, you need to give this plan a chance."

Luther took in the look of severity on Bella's face and took a seat on the sofa ready to read through the plan. He watched as Bella took a seat as well only to watch him intently as he read.

Luther hated to admit that the plan was well thought out, but he didn't want a life of sorrow and loneliness for his daughter.

"There has to be another way, Isabella." Luther commented. "This is too much for you, you will give so much up."

Bella shook her head. "It's not about me." She stood and dragged a hand through her hair. "It's about keeping Jeremy safe and about breaking the curse. I can't do either of those things if I die and if Jeremy were to die in my place, I don't think I'll be strong enough to live."

"There are other ways, Maeva." Luther continued, he could see by the look in her eyes that she wouldn't be relenting anytime soon.

Bella sighed, "No, there aren't. I've looked into anything and dream after dream nothing has worked, but this." Bella responded gesturing to the plan she had developed. "This works. I've seen it again and again, I know that this will work. Jeremy will live and he'll go to college and live a normal life where he's as safe as he can be."

"Maeva." Luther interjected. "You will be giving up your friends, your family, your future."

Bella shook her head, tears gathering in her eyes. "I know what I'm giving up, but I've seen what the future looks like and it's worth it. Jeremy is worth all the pain and the loneliness. I'll be the safest I've ever been and once I'm of age, once I'm immortal everything will fall into place. I just have to make until then."

Luther sighed, "Your plan doesn't have an exact date of your death."

"I know." Bella replied relieved that he was getting on board. "My dreams are… I don't know the exact date, but I do know that it'll be close to my graduation. I can finish my last year of high school, Elizabeth will just have to be close by for the right moment."

"Do you know how you'll die." Luther responded quietly.

"Someone kills me." Bella replied in a whisper. "It's not any of the Cullen family, the person who kills me has red eyes and every time I see my death, I see their eyes and I feel this _hatred_ that they have for me. I think it's the Volturi. Which is why I think this plan will work out beautifully, they won't hunt me if they believe wholeheartedly that I'm dead. And if we use your gift, we can wipe this entire plan from Jeremy's memory, and Aro will see into Jeremy's mind and know that Jeremy is of no use to him."

"I'll begin to gather things, if this plan is going to work, Maeva, you'll have to do be alone. The Volturi will believe you have died but others will not be so fast to believe the same." Luther replied.

Bella nodded, "I know. I've thought this out, I know what I'm doing. I know what I'll be giving up."

Luther stood and approached his daughter. "You by far have more courage than I." He leaned down and placed a kiss on her forehead. "Let's get started. I'll call Elizabeth."

Bella smiled. "Already taken care of." At the look on her father's face Bella grinned. "I told you I had thought this out. Everything is in place."

-Page Break-

Jeremy's leg bounced worriedly as he waited for Bella to arrive back. He had spent the last hour with Rosko outside waiting for Bella to come home. After nearly exhausting the wolf they had both retreated back to Bella's room.

"How long have you been waiting?" Bella asked appearing back in the room, there was a smile on her face but Jeremy could tell how tired she was.

"Not long." He replied as he stood. He moved and wrapped his arms around Bella hugging her tightly. "I missed you."

Bella pressed her head into his chest and returned his hug just as tightly. She didn't know what to say, but for just a moment she wanted to hold him as tightly as she could.

"It's going to hurt and I'm going to miss you every day, but if all this means that at the end of the day, I get to be with you then it's worth it." Jeremy whispered quietly. "We don't have long left, but I promise the time that we do have I'm going to make it great."

Bella squeezed Jeremy a little tighter, he was right after all, the time they had left was going to be great and it would be a reminder to them both that the separation would be worth it in the end.

Jeremy pulled back and looked at Bella, he was going to do everything he could to memorize every feature. "Come on, Bumble B, let's get out of this house for a while."

Bella nodded, "I'm starving, we should go get something to eat. You're going to need the energy, Luther mentioned that today he was going to be using fire in his training with you."

Jeremy groaned, holding onto Bella's hand as they made their way down the stairs. "The swords were bad enough, I'm pretty sure I saw him smirk when I almost cut my own hand off."

Bella laughed leaning into Jeremy. "It's better you then me."

"Can you heal burns?" Jeremy questioned with a smile. "I think tonight your dad will most likely light me on fire. I'm going to end up looking like Freddy Krueger. You'll still date me when I'm all deformed and ugly, right?"

Bella rolled her eyes. "You're an idiot."

"I'm your idiot." Jeremy responded leaning down to kiss Bella, tangling his hand in her hair. It would all be worth it, he was sure of it now.


End file.
